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In about two months, Bulgaria will be covered by the most contagious new strain of coronavirus, which is almost 70% more contagious than previous variants. This was commented by epidemiologist Petar Markov, who works at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“What does a viral variant mean in practice that is 50-70% more contagious? This means that if so far we have managed to stop the growth of cases in the country with a certain rigor of the measures, then with the new option, to achieve the same effect, we will need between 50 and 70% more rigorous measures, “he said. .
Markov asked the authorities a series of questions.
“The question is what are the government and health authorities doing to prepare for this moment in about 2 months, when Bulgaria will be covered by almost twice as many contagious viruses as we were treating in 2020. Is the genetic makeup of? viruses circulating in Bulgaria at the moment, by reading the genomic sequences in at least a sample of the isolated viruses? Have you brought your specialists together to come up with an orderly, flexible and effective plan to deal with what lies ahead? Countries, including the UK, are now feverishly looking for ways to increase the number of vaccines available, even at the cost of unusual approaches such as dose reductions or delays in the second dose to cover more people earlier in the ‘race with the new version,’ such as says Boris Johnson, “wrote the epidemiologist.
Markov says that if we want to protect ourselves adequately, then the arrival of the new version of the virus must be treated as a new and different epidemic, because it will be so.
“Luckily for us, we already know a lot about this virus and also, unlike the British, we have two months in advance. It would be criminal if we were to waste it,” Markov said.
The expert recalls that Britain is currently breaking its own record in the number of deaths from Covid-19, set during the first wave of the epidemic in April. The daily number of infected is twice as high as in November and ten times as high as in April, although the country has been under strict restrictions for weeks. This time, case growth is not easily affected.
The reason for the higher infectivity of the new strain is that its carriers have virus stocks 10 to 100 times higher in the nasal mucosa.
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