Šimonytė: Another dangerous strain of coronavirus detected in Lithuania, a tightening of the quarantine can be expected tomorrow

Therefore, tomorrow you can expect a tightening of the quarantine. So far, the prime minister has not detailed what they could be.

“I regret to say that there are really many cases. The number of cases has increased considerably and a strain of the PAR virus has also been identified in Lithuania. Not only does it mean a more rapid spread. But this may pose certain challenges for vaccination,” said I Šimonytė.

He hinted that starting tomorrow, the government could decide on stricter quarantine conditions.

“The releases (Government, aut. P.) Definitely will not be considered this week, I have already said. But considering that the news about the established PAR variety has arrived today, I would not rule out the need to consider a certain tightening of the quarantine, but at the moment I do not want to go into details, “explained the Prime Minister.

I. Šimonytė stated that 2 cases have already been approved, several more cases that are currently being investigated. It is not yet clear in which municipalities in the country these cases have been identified.

“It is possible that only with very aggressive focus testing and very continuous preventive testing can we keep municipalities currently yellow and remain yellow. And in those municipalities where the situation is unfortunately deteriorating, Vilnius is also deteriorating. I believe that already this week Vilnius will be a black municipality in terms of the number of cases, not only in terms of the number of positive tests. “I don’t see any reason to talk about some very large releases without the proper control measures now,” he said.

The Prime Minister explained that the situation in which the new variety had spread was being analyzed.

“We look at the information about where the PAR mutation spreads are identified and then consider what steps need to be taken to prevent it from spreading too much. Taking into account that this is already a risk for vaccination. Other strains put us at greater risk of getting sick, perhaps more difficult to get sick, and here we are talking about the risk of vaccination, and that is not something we can joke about ”, the Prime Minister also emphasized.

The effect of the vaccine can be reduced.

After testing the vaccine in South Africa last month, he showed that the rapidly spreading strain of coronavirus could not only weaken the effect of the vaccine, but also ignore the natural immunity that developed in people who had previously had it, Reuters reported. early March.

According to Reuters interviews with 18 experts who are closely following the pandemic or trying to mitigate its effects, a new approach is emerging among scientists.

Most point to the breakthrough last year, when two were created about 95 percent. Effective vaccines against COVID-19 initially sparked hope that the virus was largely manageable, just as measles was before.

However, they say recent weeks’ data on new varieties in South Africa and Brazil suppress this optimism.

Now, scientists have no doubt that SARS-CoV-2 will not only remain with us as an endemic virus and spread to society, but will also carry a heavy burden of morbidity and mortality in the years to come.

For this reason, scientists say that people will have to deal with the need to continue to take special measures during COVID-19 outbreaks, such as wearing masks regularly and avoiding crowded places.

This will be especially true for people at high risk. Even after vaccination, “they will still want to wear a mask if the virus spreads,” Anthony Fauci, senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, said in an interview.

“A small spark of the virus is enough and it will spread another outbreak, that is the prediction,” said the expert on when life will return to normal.