“The new strain COVID-19 is circulating in every county.” What does the specialist say about the supposed Romanian strain?

Professor Alexandru Rafila, Romania’s representative to WHO, is convinced that the new strain of coronavirus is circulating in all counties in the country, but sequencing has not been carried out everywhere. Regarding the Romanian strain, Dr. Rafila says that it is more of a mutation, which still does not cause problems.

“It is a well-known fact that this strain is more easily transmitted than the classic strain. As for its prevalence, I have no information that there are still a greater number of cases with this new strain. It is possible that this is the case, but until this national system for sequencing suspicious strains comes into operation (…) we cannot find out what the proportion of this strain is. I am convinced that in all the counties of Romania, not just half of them, it circulates. of them were identified, but that does not mean that the others do not circulate ”, said Prof. Dr. Alexandru Rafila.

Asked about the Romanian strain, which has been discussed in the public space in recent days, the representative of Romania in the WHO says that it is, rather, a mutation, which has been discovered in 34 other countries.

“It was not a Romanian strain, but a mutation reported in a virus strain circulating in Romania. It was first discovered in Scotland. Since then it has been discovered in 34 other countries. We are not talking about a mutation that alone affects the escape of this strain from the immune response generated by a past infection or vaccination, but it is a possibility of a repeated cumulative mutation that includes this mutation (…). But so far there are no public health problems, ”said Alexandru Rafila.

He said the mutation was not shown and there was no evidence of a possible lower effectiveness of the vaccine than the diseases it caused.