Spahn: delta variant to account for most new infections

(1 Jul 2021) Germany's Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday he expects the more contagious Delta variant to account for 70-80 percent of new COVID-19 infections in the country. "The aim is clear for us, to keep absolute infection figures as low as possible and at the same time further increase the speed of vaccination," said Health Minister Jens Spahn during a news conference with German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. Spahn added that more than 55 percent of people in Germany, or two-thirds of adults, have received at least one vaccine dose and 37.3% of the population is now fully vaccinated. When asked about the prospect of more fans attending the final Euros 2020 match at Wembley, Seehofer said he thought "UEFA's position is absolutely irresponsible." "I have the suspicion that this is about commerce again, and commerce must not outshine the protection of the population against infection," said Seehofer, who is also responsible for sports in Germany. He appealed to UEFA "not to push this off on local health authorities," adding, "a sports association should say clearly, 'we don't want it this way and we're reducing the numbers of spectators.'" The crowd for Tuesday's second-round match, which England won 2-0, was the biggest in Britain since the pandemic began in March 2020 - even though the more contagious Delta variant is currently fueling a significant increase in new cases in the U.K. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...