New corona variant brings a surprising turnaround

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A new coronavirus variant is set to dominate the infection situation, and the latest wave is in Austria. But suddenly, everything seems different.

Thousands of infected people, a rising wave, and a new coronavirus variant have recently caused alarm among numerous experts. “We are in a corona wave. Virus activity remains high. However, it is impossible to say when the peak will be reached and the wave will subside again,“ explained virologist Monika Redlberger-Fritz from MedUni Vienna in an interview published by the daily newspaper ”Heute” last week.

This is also still evident in the sentinel system. “Currently still high SARS-CoV-2 activity (20%),” writes MedUni Vienna virologist Judith Aberle on Twitter.

In addition, the new Corona variant XEC, which already dominates in Germany, is the wave’s driver. In Austria, its share was still 20% on October 2. “Extrapolated, we should already be at 50 percent or more. This could mean that the variant is already dominant,” molecular biologist Ulrich Elling told Heute.

But now everything suddenly seems different. The viral load in Austrian wastewater is falling abruptly, and the reports of incapacity to work for the Austrian Health Insurance Fund also show a new trend.

The figures have fallen significantly compared to the previous week—from 14,160 sickness notifications due to SARS-CoV-2 to 12,841. That is a decrease of 1,319 sick people within a week.

Elling explains this with a natural phenomenon: “Viruses don’t look at the calendar; they depend on the weather. During the floods, we had a peak, not only in places where the wastewater was heavily diluted and the data was, therefore, inaccurate, but also in all other federal states. Now we are experiencing a golden fall; people are outside. During this time, the XEC variant continues to build up; we can expect bad weather again in the fall vacations, and in November the curves will again point steeply upwards.”