[ad_1]
The Federal Council has rarely reacted so quickly to the development of a new crown. Last Sunday night, less than 24 hours after the first report of virus mutations in Britain and South Africa, air traffic between Switzerland and the two countries was suspended. The next day, entry from these countries was prohibited. BLICK answers the most important questions.
Is Britain’s mutated coronavirus already in Switzerland?
So far, the variant has not been tested, says Tanja Stadler (39) of the federal crown task force. But it is likely that several people have already introduced the new variant in Switzerland. The ETH biostatistician estimates that one person became infected in every second of the 90 flights that arrived in Switzerland last week.
Why does Switzerland consider itself a scrap dealer when looking for variants?
On the one hand, the necessary sequencing of the virus genomes has so far been carried out at long intervals of time. The last sequencing took place on December 10. On the other hand, Switzerland has only examined a maximum of one percent of positive Covid results so far. The British sequence is much more consistent with 55.9 per 1000 cases or Denmark with 93.1. That should change now, Stadler says. Since the new variant, several laboratories in Switzerland have now sequenced significantly more.
Where have mutations been detected so far?
The Great Britain mutation has so far also been detected in Australia, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark. It is notable that so far the variants have been found mainly in countries testing a high proportion of cases.
What is the biggest problem with the new mutation?
Viruses mutate all the time, that’s normal. According to Stadler, hundreds of Covid variants have already been found in Switzerland. Variants become critical if they spread faster, make you sicker, and don’t react to vaccination. According to Stadler, so far there is no evidence of stronger symptoms or fatal courses. But for both new and different variants from Great Britain and South Africa, there are indications that they are being broadcast much more frequently.
What does rapid spread mean?
According to British researchers, the mutation has between 40 and 70 percent higher transferability. The coronavirus mutation is also said to have “a greater tendency” to infect children. For Switzerland with an already high number of cases, the spread of the variant would become a problem. According to the head of the working group Martin Ackermann (49), the variant could increase the R-value by 0.4 points. This means that the infected people would infect many more people. The current stricter crown measures would not be enough to stop this mutation, Ackermann emphasizes.
Are Mutation Vaccines Helpful?
The head of Biontech, Ugur Sahin (55), has already tested his corona vaccine for 20 other virus variants. And there was no evidence that it was less effective for this mutation because it elicits different immune responses. According to Sahin, the antigen that Biontech uses for the vaccine consists of more than 1,270 amino acids. Nine of them have now mutated, so not even one percent. The effectiveness against the British variant will be tested separately over the next two weeks.
