Jimu news reporter Ke said
Intern Liu Qingqing
The worst fear has happened! According to Agence France-Presse reported on January 20, the outbreak of the new crown epidemic at the Research Base in The Antarctica in Argentina, 24 people were confirmed, of which 9 unvaccinated people were evacuated by helicopter. Earlier this month, when Jimu News reported on a cluster of outbreaks at the Belgian Antarctic Princess Elizabeth station, Antarctic experts at Wuhan University said that the epidemic was at risk of spreading.
More than half of the people at a base in Argentina were infected
According to foreign media sources, Patricia Ortuzar of the Argentine National Bureau of Antarctica said that 24 of the 43 scientists and military personnel living at the Esperanza base have been infected. As a precautionary measure, 9 asymptomatic infected people who were not vaccinated before coming to Antarctica were evacuated by helicopter and will return to Buenos Aires, the argentine capital.
Esperanza Research Base (Web Infographic)
Otuza said the situation at the Esperanza research base was "under control.". The other 15 COVID-19-positive workers were also asymptomatic and remained at the base with the rest of the team, all of whom were vaccinated.
Ortuza added that the base, built in 1952 and located at the far northwestern tip of Antarctica, is one of 13 bases in Argentina. The outbreak at the Esperanza research site began on 12 January, when a resident of the base may have been infected by new arrivals.
Bitmap of esperanza Research Base area (Ssangyong Probe Screenshot)
According to the data, Argentina is currently battling the third wave of the pandemic, with more than 100,000 cases reported every day. The South American country of 45 million people has registered more than 7.4 million infections and 118,000 deaths.
According to Canadian media reports, the Belgian Princess Elizabeth station, which previously broke out of the epidemic, has now returned to normal, and all infected people have recovered. It is widely believed that the source of the epidemic was a new team member who arrived from South Africa, when South Africa was in the outbreak period of "Omi Kerong".
Are Antarctic penguins dangerous?
Ai Songtao, professor and doctoral supervisor of the China Antarctic Surveying and Mapping Research Center of Wuhan University, once issued an early warning through Jimu News that "the Antarctic epidemic has the risk of airborne transmission". He introduced that the Esperanza base is 3253 kilometers away from the Princess Elizabeth station, the two have no air traffic connection, and the epidemic at the Esperanza base in Argentina is another transmission channel, indicating that the Antarctic epidemic has spread through multiple channels.
It is worth mentioning that the new crown virus was first detected in Antarctica in December 2020, when Chile reported 36 cases at the Bernardo OHiggins base on the Antarctic Peninsula. This base is only 46 kilometers away from the Esperanza base, where the outbreak began.
The first Chilean Antarctic base to have an outbreak (infographic)
The "Ssangyong Pole Exploration" platform developed by Ai Songtao's team shows that there is currently a research vessel "Port of Argentina" near the Esperanza base, while another cruise ship "Silver Cloud" has recently been active near the Esperanza base, after the "Silver Cloud" had detected positive tourists. He reminded that the low temperature in Antarctica is conducive to the survival of the virus and to prevent "material transmission to man".
"Port of Argentina" near the Esperanza base (SsangYong Probe screenshot)
Ai Songtao introduced that the nearest distance between China's scientific expedition station and Esperanza station in Argentina is the Great Wall Station, which is about 165 kilometers away. But don't worry too much, the polar authorities of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the mainland have already formulated strict epidemic prevention policies, and have also prepared a strong emergency plan and sufficient epidemic prevention materials.
Antarctic Penguin (Xinhua News Agency)
For everyone's concern about whether antarctic penguins are at risk of infection, Ai Songtao said that many countries, including China, stipulate that scientific expedition team members are generally not allowed to contact Antarctic wild animals, so the transmission channels are limited. Studies by scholars have shown that even in the face of the new crown virus, because birds such as penguins breathe completely differently from humans, their risk of infection should be lower than that of mammals.
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