COVID-19. WHO is concerned about the spread of the Delta variant

NDuring a routine press video conference on the evolution of the covid-19 pandemic, Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said that a variant first identified in India but prevalent in over 70 countries, including Portugal, “is becoming more prominent and dominant in some parts of the world.

“And this is troubling given the information we have about its transmissibility,” he said.

The delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is considered 60% more infectious than the original virus.

In Portugal, the strain has been linked to an increase in infections in the Lisbon metropolitan area, which is now limited to weekends.

On Tuesday, in statements to Luz, epidemiologist mathematician Oscar Felgeiras acknowledged that Portugal may be “on track” to become one of the countries in the European Union with the “highest incidence” of COVID-19 due to the Delta variant.

In the UK, where the strain already dominates, the final phase of the decontamination plan, scheduled for June 21, will be postponed four weeks to July 19 due to the risk of “deaths of thousands”.

European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides this week called for accelerating the full vaccination of the population against covid-19, noting that “there is evidence that options, namely Delta, reduce the protective shield provided by vaccines, especially when vaccinations are still pending.” …

However, for virologist Pedro Simas, there has yet to be a variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that “disrupts the protective effect” of vaccines, each of which is effective in preventing serious illness and death from COVID-19.

Today, at a WHO press video conference broadcast from the organization’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, experts emphasized that the covid-19 pandemic is still very dynamic due to circulating varieties, and that more data is needed to determine the effectiveness of vaccines against SARS-CoV strains. -2, causing concern.

They warned that cutting back on public health measures or declaring an early victory over the pandemic could help spread new strains, including Delta.

According to a report by the French news agency AFP, the covid-19 pandemic has caused at least 3,844,390 deaths worldwide, resulting in more than 177.3 million infections.

In Portugal, of the 862,926 confirmed cases, 17,061 have died, according to the latest bulletin from the General Directorate of Health.

Covid-19 is a respiratory illness caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, a type of virus discovered at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China that has spread rapidly around the world.

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