Filenews 5 March 2021
A third wave will occur if people see de-escalation as an opportunity to trample on the implementation of the measures, said Assistant Professor of Paediatrics and Infectious Diseases at the University of Cyprus and Chairman of the Special Committee of the Cyprus Medical Association, for the treatment of the crown, Maria Koliou, who said that until the goal of a desired vaccination coverage rate is achieved we must engage in a race, so that we can keep the positive cases low.
Ms. Koliu, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Health, believes that until high vaccination coverage is achieved "we must throw ourselves into a race to keep cases low and not run out of resistance to the adequacy of the health system".
As he noted, if this becomes a success "then we will certainly be in very good shape", however, he added that "if we let a wave explode and we do not pay attention and see de-escalation as an opportunity to trample on the implementation of measures - and I am talking about the world - then we may have a problem".
In relation to the increase in positive cases of coronavirus, as well as the increase in nurses, observed in recent days, Ms Koliou said that "an increase was expected to some extent", to note that "how much will increase will be seen in the coming days and whether this increase will be really worrying or not".
Asked about the increase in cases among students in recent times, Ms. Koliu expressed concern, saying that the increase may also be due to mutations in the strains of the virus currently prevalent.
He explained that during the first wave of the pandemic the young ages had some degree of resistance to the virus, to note that at the moment "they seem to be more easily infected, possibly due to mutations".
In relation to the British mutation, which was also detected in Cyprus, Ms Koliu said it shows increased communicability at young ages.
"So," he said, "we're dealing with a differentiated virus, which is much more contagious."
Asked to comment on the ecdc results obtained by the Ministry of Health, according to which the British strain of the virus was detected in a total of 31 samples from Cyprus, Ms Koliu said that "all appearances of mutant strains are of concern to us".
As he said, "in addition to the British strain, in Cyprus there is also the Cypriot strain of the B1-258 virus, which includes the British mutation", noting that "we actually have a large British mutation".
"It certainly worries us and it's a problem, which I hope doesn't peak," he said.
Further analysing the issue of mutations, he said that "mutant strains exploit the potential to multiply and when they have unlimited possibilities of multiplication in a country, where measures are not observed and waves from the disease are manifested, without being controlled, then the uncontrolled proliferation of the virus brings possibilities of mutation and appearance of strains with increased advantages, such as increased communicability".
He estimated that other mutant strains might appear, noting that "we need to move quickly with vaccination coverage."
In response to a question about the Cypriot mutant strain and whether it is responsible for the resistance to case reduction, Ms. Koliu made it clear that the Cypriot mutant strain may be responsible for the more widespread transmission, adding that the reduction in cases results only from the measures and from the vaccine.
Source: KYPE
