Omicron focuses all eyes on him increase in infections and accumulated incidence to 14 days for every one hundred thousand inhabitants registered in the last weeks in all the countries of the world.
Faced with this situation, and specifically in Europe, many countries chose to announce new restrictions. The Netherlands announced a new lockdown for this Christmas. France, for example, decreed the assembly ban on the street on New Years Eve, while Portugal advanced to December 25 the measures imposed to curb the rise in infections. Others like Austria, announced the mandatory vaccination since February.
In our country the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, reported on the new measures that have been published in the BOE after being agreed in the Conference of Presidents with the regional leaders. The return of the using the mask outdoors, the intensification of the vaccination rhythm and a reinforcement plan for primary care. Meanwhile, communities like Catalonia did opt for tougher restrictions, such as the curfew and the consequent closure of nightlife.
Vaccination, key to the end of the pandemic
On the Omicron variant and the possible end of the pandemic, the epidemiologist of the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, Adolfo García Sastre. In an interview with the program ‘Public Mirror’ from ‘Antena 3’, argued that this new variant is “less severe” compared to the previous ones. “If Ómicron came to us with a severity equal to Delta or the previous ones, it would have been much worse.”
In addition, he declared in the aforementioned program that this situation “has caught us unprepared” Despite knowing relevant aspects of the new variant, such as its greater transmissibility, and with respect to antigen tests, he explained that “they could have been more accessible”, even before Christmas arrived.
I have the impression that Ómicron ends the pandemic. The infection rate is brutal, but the vast majority with very, very mild symptoms. In South Africa, incidence is falling just as fast as it has risen. This is over.
– Dr. Javier Zulueta (@DrZulueta) December 23, 2021
On the other hand, he highlighted an aspect that could be fundamental for the end of the pandemic, vaccination. In this sense, he pointed out that both with the booster doses as with specific Omicron vaccines We’d be closer to the end “Omicron It may be the end of the pandemic, it is a possibility that we do not rule out. It looks more like a normal respiratory virus, although it is capable of giving rise to many infections. With booster doses and the people who will be exposed to it, it will lead to an immunity, and a vaccine more based on this variant, I think we would have finished the problems that this virus causes “.
“This is over”
Another epidemiologist from this New York hospital center also spoke in similar terms. Its about doctor Javier Zulueta that, from his point of view, Ómicron ends the pandemic. “The infection rate is brutal, but the vast majority with very, very mild symptoms. In South Africa, incidence is falling just as fast as it has risen. This is over“he wrote on his Twitter account.
Pfizer, for its part, also took a fundamental step in the fight against COVID-19 when announcing a new antiviral, with an 89% effectiveness in preventing hospitalizations and death from coronavirus. Meanwhile, countries like Spain continue with the inoculation of the booster dose and the administration of the first dose in children under 12 years of age.
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