According to him, a recent publication shows that although different variants of the virus can avoid the immune response caused by vaccination or disease, the protection is generally very good, especially when it comes to a serious illness.
“I think on the contrary – the emergence of such a new variant should make even more people think about their health and run vaccinations to protect themselves. As can be seen in the same delta variant – it works,” explained Clovin.
He pointed out that if the omicron turns out to be more contagious than the currently dominant delta variant, then this type of Covid-19 virus is likely to reach Latvia as well.
Clovin admitted that the two most serious things that have caused concern about the omicron are the rapid spread of the Covid-19 variant in southern Africa.
“A similar spread of the virus has been observed in other variants of the virus, which have not turned out to be so dangerous since then. But here is the fact that an incredible number of mutations have been detected in the virus,” Klovins said.
Studies are currently being carried out in laboratories around the world to see if people who have previously had Covid-19 or have been vaccinated are able to neutralize the new variant of the virus. The first data on this could be already this week, the researcher said.
He said that work was continuing in Latvia to monitor the spread of the virus, as well as other aspects related to Covid-19.
CONTEXT
Scientists in the Republic of South Africa said last Thursday that they had found a new variant of Covid-19 with a large number of mutations due to a rapid increase in infections.
In South Africa, the worst affected country in Covid-19, the number of new infections registered in a single day has increased tenfold since the beginning of the month, from 106 to around 1,200.
In response, many countries, including the European Union (EU), have suspended flights from southern Africa. The Government of Latvia has imposed travel restrictions on eight African countries.
Scientists believe the new variant may be more contagious than the Covid-19 delta or Indian variant, as well as more resistant to current Covid-19 vaccines. The 15th letter of the Greek alphabet, omicron, is used to denote the new type of virus.
A new variant of Covid-19 has already been identified Australia, In Israel, In Belgium, Italy, Great Britain, Germany a Denmark.
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