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Washington, December 22, 2020 – After the alarm launched in the new English variant of Covid 19 the Britain today registered a new peak of daily infections and deaths. In the last 24 hours, the London government has tallied 36,807 new cases, with an increase of 691 deaths, the highest daily number in days.
The new strain, despite the guarantees, runs the risk of standing in the way of vaccines and therefore there is no question. Pfizer-Biontech and modern are testing their vaccines right on the coronavirus mutation. A study that is expected to last a couple of weeks. “Based on the data obtained so far, we expect immunity induced by the Modern vaccine it also protects against recently discovered variants in the UK. We will do tadditional east in the coming weeks to confirm these expectations, “the company said in a statement. Also, Pfizer reports that it is studying the response of immunized people to the new strain of the virus. PfizerBionTech is modern they are the only two vaccines licensed to date in the United States. The virus has mutated before, and both companies have said their sera have also been shown to be effective against these new variants.
Italy: the first vaccinated will be a nurse from Spallanzani
Meanwhile, the European Comission asked the Member States to reopen commercial links and passenger transport with the UKwhen it comes to travel and “essential” goods. In a note, the Commission noted that the transport of goods to and from the UK must continue uninterrupted, although all non-essential travel should be avoided “until further notice”. “The flight and rail bans should be suspended given the need to guarantee essential travel and avoid disruption of the supply chain,” the statement read. The issue of EU coordination, after the discovery of a variant of Covid 19 that is spreading in England, will be one of the central themes of the meeting between the ambassadors of the Twenty-seven, starting at 4 pm, in Brussels; governments have already committed to coordinating their response.
Coronavirus, the newsletter for December 22
Mutation? New vaccine in 6 weeks
The Covid mutation The appearance in Britain “is a little different” from what has been considered so far “, and we do not yet know exactly whether our vaccine can protect against this as well. From a scientific point of view, however, it is very likely that our vaccine can also defend yourself against this variant“, stresses the founder of Biontech, Ugur Sahin, at a press conference. Now it will take two weeks to collect data on this, he also stressed.
In any case – continues Sahin – BioNtech is capable of provide a new vaccine “in six weeks” in case of a mutation of the virus. “It is probable – he insists – that the current vaccine will work against the new variant of the virus, but we will know it between two weeks after conducting the experiments. “
WHO: risk of less effective tests
For his part thewho Reports that one of 14 mutations characterizing the Gb variant of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus It could also create some problems on the diagnostic front. Covid-19: It has been observed to do some types of tests are less effective.
The World Health Organization expresses “concern about the reported loss of performance for some PCR tests,” technology used for molecular swabs. Specifically, “a mutation of the Gb variant, that is, the deletion at position 69/70, was found to affect the performance of those targeting the S gene (Spike).”
On the other hand, however, the WHO reassures: “Most of Pcr test all over the world use multiple lenses and, therefore, the impact of the variant on diagnoses is not expected to be significant. Despite this, the WHO “wishes to draw attention” to the possible risks and provides some guidance. The viral genes it targets are not clearly identified in the instructions to contact the manufacturer for more information. Laboratories using in-house PCR tests that target the virus S gene should also be aware of this potential problem. To limit the impact on ‘infection’ detection capabilities in countries, a multi-approach is also recommended. tests in parallel or multiple tests, directed to different viral genes, to allow the detection of possible variants “.
Bassetti: We don’t have to fear anything
On the English variant of the new coronavirus “there was too much noise for something also without scientific basis; the announcement is from the English ministry, but without a scientific publication in a peer-review magazine ”, underlines the specialist in infectious diseases. Matteo bassetti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the San Martino Hospital in Genoa and member of the Covid-19 crisis unit of Liguria.
“In a British genomics laboratory it was discovered that the coronavirus appears to have had a mutation that, however, does not affect mortality and aggression of the virus, but increases the contagion by 70%. However, it is not scientifically approved – continues Bassetti – I viruses normally mutateThere have already been other reports about the coronavirus and the influenza virus, for example, it has very fast mutations while this one a little less. So it had already happened and there are publications in ‘Nature’, so it is likely that this mutation is also found in Italy, but we should not fear anything“.
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