The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised this Friday to “worrying” the threat posed by the new variant of the coronavirus baptized as omicron, the fifth to receive this qualification since the beginning of the pandemic. The organism fears that the more than 30 mutations accumulated by this new form of the virus, detected for the first time in South Africa, will allow it to spread more quickly than those known so far, and considers that it has a “higher risk of reinfection” in people that have already passed the covid. “This variant has a large number of mutations, several of which are worrisome,” the organism insisted.
Although it is common for a virus to accumulate mutations as it circulates among the population, we speak of “concern” when there are indications that these can make it more transmissible, cause more serious clinical conditions or cause the infections it causes to escape protection conferred by vaccines or having passed the disease naturally.
In a statement made public this Friday, the WHO warns that the new variant is spreading at high speed through the vast majority of South African provinces. Detected for the first time in that country on the 24th, omicron has already been found in Botswana, Israel, Hong Kong, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Germany. So far, no hospital in charge of the genetic surveillance of the virus has detected the presence of the new variant in Spanish territory, as reported this Friday by the Ministry of Health.
The detection of the new variant has triggered a cataract of reactions internationally. The European Union has suspended flights with South Africa and six other countries on the continent as a precaution. “We will take to the next Council of Ministers a flight restriction agreement. We will also require [los viajeros procedentes de] countries with high risk not only vaccination, but also an antigen test and PCR, ”said the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, in statements to TVE.
The United States has also adopted a similar measure. “The chief medical advisor, Dr. Tony Fauci, and members of our covid response team informed me about the omicron variant,” said the country’s president, Joe Biden, through a statement. These new restrictions will take effect on Monday, November 29. “We will always continue to be guided by what science and my medical team advise,” said the president. The UK and Israel also restrict their connections to the affected countries.
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