Valeriu Gheorghita sends a very important warning signal to Romanians all over the country before the 5th wave hits our country, and this is because he tells us about the fact that in South Africa the Omicron variant has generated an increase in hospitalizations, even if in it is clear if it generates more serious forms.
Valeriu Gheorghita says that there are still few cases to be able to draw a clear conclusion about what is happening, but unfortunately a lot of attention is needed regarding the evolution of this variant because it seems to be one that cannot be neutralized by to antibodies.
"At this moment in South Africa, in addition to the significant increase in the number of cases, there is also an increase in hospitalizations, but this does not necessarily mean that the Omicron variant could generate more serious forms of illness. From this point of view, we need to see in the coming weeks what will be the evolution of the cases.
At the moment, there are quite a few cases to draw a conclusion. They are certainly much more than are reported, because when we detect cases by sequencing, the percentage of infections at the population level is much higher than what we identify.
The first sequencing that identified this Omicron variant is based on a test collected on November 9. From November 9 and until November 24, when this version was reported, the respective persons traveled a lot, both on the African continent and in the rest of the countries outside the continent.
What we know is that it is one of the most interesting variants of SARS-CoV-2, in the sense that there are accumulated more than 30 mutations at the level of the Spike protein, something unheard of until now, to have so many mutations accumulated on the same the viral strain, of which more than half are in the critical area of the protein, where the antibodies bind.
From this point of view, there are important indications that this viral variant would be an escape from the neutralizing action of antibodies, which is a problem if we take into account the effectiveness of vaccines, but also the protection we have after vaccination, but also getting through the disease."
