On January 11, local time, Krueger, director of the European region of the World Health Organization, said that in the next two months, more than half of Europeans may be infected with the Omiljung mutant strain. According to reports, with the spread of the Omiljun strain, the number of new cases in many European countries in a single day has increased exponentially in recent days. As of the first week of 2022, more than 7 million newly reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in Europe. The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States on January 10 was nearly 1.5 million, setting a new record since the outbreak of the epidemic.
According to WHO, of the nearly 360,000 samples of viral gene sequences collected in the past 30 days, 58.5% of the samples were the Omiljung strain, and the proportion of Delta strains dropped to 41.4%. On January 11, local time, the latest data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that in the week ending January 8, the estimated number of new cases in the United States has accounted for 98.3% of new cases in the United States, while less than two months ago, the number of infections in Omikeron accounted for only 0.6% of all new cases. WHO says the Omikejung strain is rapidly replacing other strains as the main epidemic strain.
The Spanish prime minister has called for covid-19 to be treated as the flu
Expert refutation: fallacy! The sequelae of COVID-19 are much higher than those of the flu
According to foreign media reports, on January 10, local time, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in an interview: "The fatality rate of the new crown virus is declining, and we need to re-evaluate the evolution of the new crown pneumonia from a global pandemic to an endemic disease." He called on European countries to treat COVID-19 as the flu. Foreign media explained that treating the new crown pneumonia as influenza means that every case will not be recorded in the future, nor will it be necessary to test all people with symptoms.
In response, Professor David Robertson, head of viral genomics and bioinformatics at the University of Glasgow Virus Research Centre in the United Kingdom, said that "it is a fallacy to think that the new coronavirus variant is becoming more and more mild" and "to regard the new crown as influenza". Professor Robertson noted that it was uncertain whether the strain had become milder after gradual evolution. "Many people take the global flu of 1918 and the swine flu of 2009 as examples and think that the new coronavirus will also moderate over time," he said. However, they ignore that some viruses, such as Ebola, become more and more ferocious over time. He also added that although the clinical symptoms of the Omicron variant do not appear to be as severe as the previous Alpha and Delta variants, both the Alpha and Delta strains are far more toxic than the first to be discovered.
Professor Robertson also believes that the ultimate goal of virus transmission is to replicate the virus as much as possible and spread it widely. "Although killing the host is not the ultimate goal of the virus, the virus may complete its transmission before killing the host." Professor Robertson explained that the new crown virus does not immediately cause the death of infected people when it is most contagious, and the dead patients often die within two to three weeks of infection.
Catherine Smallwood, an official at the World Health Organization, also expressed concern about the claim to "treat COVID-19 as the flu." "There is still great uncertainty about the current state of global virus transmission, and the virus is rapidly evolving," she said. We are not far from being able to call it an 'endemic disease' or the flu. ”
China recently for the first time to "face" The Omiclon, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Zhang Boli also said in an interview with the media on January 11 that it is inappropriate to say that The Omicron is a large flu. Although its symptoms are mild, it is not clear whether it has sequelae. Academician Zhang said: "The sequelae of the new crown pneumonia are still relatively many, far higher than the flu. ”
Expert Warning:
Omiqueron is not the end point, and the virus may continue to mutate
Professor Robertson said the evolution of the virus was random and unpredictable. He said: "The Omirkjong mutant strain did not evolve from the Delta mutant strain, nor did the Delta mutant strain evolve from the Alpha mutant strain. "It is reported that since the emergence of the new crown virus, there have been many mutations. The World Health Organization divides the COVID-19 variant strains into two categories, depending on the degree of risk: variants of Concern (VOCs) that have caused widespread transmission and require concern, and Variants of Interest (VOI) that have not yet spread on a large scale. There are currently 5 strains listed in VOCs: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and the current global epidemic of Omicron. In addition, Lambda, Mu, Eta, Iota and other variants of the poison are listed in VOI. In addition, there is the new variant IHU that has previously appeared in France and the "Delta Croon" variant that has not yet been confirmed by WHO.
Professor Robertson said: "These VOC variants do not evolve from one to another, but constantly evolve new variants. He also said that Omiqueron will never become the end of the new crown virus mutation, according to this mutation model, 6 months later there may be a new VOC variant.
"However, at present, it seems that the spread of the Aomi Kerong variant is already very strong, and it is difficult for future variants to surpass it." Professor Robertson predicted. However, at the same time, he also pointed out that when the Delta variant was transmitted before, everyone also held the same view, believing that there would be no more variants with more transmission performance than Delta. The available data show that the Omiljun strain is far more contagious than the Delta strain. In addition, he believes that the Aumicjong variant may also continue to evolve. "The first generation of the Omikeron variant strain has infected many people, and when the number of infected people reaches a certain level, a new generation of Omikeron variant strains that are better at 'evading the immune response' may be derived."
Professor Robertson also said that although the new crown virus may continue to evolve new variants, if the more people in the world are vaccinated and the fewer the number of people infected with the virus, the crisis caused by the evolution of the virus will be smaller. According to the data, as of 16:00 on January 12, 2022, the cumulative number of covid-19 vaccines received worldwide was 9.49 billion doses, with an average of 120.52 vaccinations per 100 people.
It has also been reported that in order to effectively prevent and control the new crown epidemic, many countries including Israel, the United States, Germany and other countries plan to launch a fourth vaccine program. On January 10, local time, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla announced that Pfizer is developing a vaccine against the Omiljung variant and is expected to be put into production in March this year, which will also be used to fight other variants of the virus. It is reported that a previous study by the UK Health Security Agency showed that the existing vaccine is only about 10% effective in preventing the condition of the Ami kerong variant infection.
Red Star News reporter Wang Yalin intern reporter Li Jinrui
Edited by Pan Li
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