This new variant is spreading rapidly through southern African countries and confirmed cases have already been detected in Europe.
This fifth form of the coronavirus has started to spread in South Africa . Faced with this new threat, the WHO asked for patience and not to take early action.
“It will take us several weeks to understand its level of transmissibility and virulence,” says WHO.
On the side of the European Commission, its president Ursula Von der Leyen insists on taking extreme precautions in the face of this new threat.
Travel bans to and from southern AFRICA countries are increasing and health ministers from the G7 countries will meet soon to decide the way forward.
At the moment, in Spain a confirmed case of the Ómicron variant has been detected, a person who had already been vaccinated (a 51-year-old man vaccinated with the two doses of Pfizer against the coronavirus) and Health is studying a second suspected case of this same variant also in Madrid. This is a passenger from South Africa via Amsterdam. Both are isolated and under medical supervision.
Scientists suspect that the large number of mutations in this new variant occurred together, in a “single burst,” suggesting that it may have evolved within someone with a weakened immune system. And the main reason for the risk posed by this variant is that it has more than 30 mutations.
The truth is that little is known, at this time, about it, including how it will affect those infected or the levels of effectiveness provided by vaccines against it.
