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The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared on Monday (21) that the covid-19 mutation is expected, but that the organization is working together with countries to understand how these changes affect to the population. Tedros also said that vaccination cannot be an excuse for everyone to stop caring and that The coronavirus mutation is no longer considered lethal than before.
“This year was very difficult for all of us, but for health professionals it was much more difficult. At this time of year when many people are celebrating, the greatest gift that leaders and the population can give to professionals is caring, ”he said. Tedros, adding that the virus is capable of infecting all age groups and therefore it is necessary to reinforce social distance.
The WHO Director-General also warned that now is the time to turn political commitment into action. “Vaccines give us hope, but vaccine nationalism deprives the poorest populations of these life-saving tools.”
International transmission
Transmission of the virus continues to occur through particles of saliva, so it is necessary to continue using masks and constant hand hygiene, according to WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove.
“In terms of international transmission, we know that countries are doing sequencing and some are reporting unique cases of these variations. This data is being posted on our platform,” he explained. So far, cases of the new coronavirus strain have been reported in the United Kingdom, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark, according to Van. Kerkhove.
Indian scientist Soumya Swaminathan, a participant in the WHO press conference, said everyone’s focus should be on reducing virus transmissions, “because the more viruses there are in circulation, the greater the possibility of variants.”
Studies on the new strain of coronavirus are in the early stages, but WHO epidemiologist Mike Ryan said “the message is now positive” about the mapping and identification of the virus, mainly by countries like the UK and Saudi Arabia. South.
New strain of coronavirus
The new coronavirus mutation would be 70% more transmissible than the previous one, according to a preliminary survey prepared by the British authorities and confirmed by the WHO. The international health organization reinforced that the surveys are initial, but that the new configurations of the virus are being studied by scientists from several countries.
With the change, there was an increase in the speed of transmission of the virus by up to 0.4%. About 60% of recent cases detected in the UK were caused by the modified virus. To prevent the new strain from circulating, countries such as France, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland and Portugal have suspended flights and rail connections with the United Kingdom. In Brazil, international flights from the country have not yet been suspended.
