The more contagious variants of Coronavirus are spreading rapidly in Germany, Minister of Health Jens Spahn told journalists here. In particular, the variant that was first detected in the United Kingdom (UK) is “causing us concern,” Spahn said. “We must expect that variant to soon become the dominant one in our country as well”, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and laboratories in Germany have analysed more than 23,000 positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. The results showed that the variant identified in the UK already accounted for more than 22 per cent of all new infections, according to Spahn.