It is not yet clear if the new variant will cause a new global wave of infections. Experts say current vaccines still provide protection against severe symptoms, hospitalizations and death.
World Health Organization officials announced on Tuesday that countries should consider recommending that passengers wear masks on long-haul flights, in light of the rapid spread of the latest variant of the Corona virus.
WHO officials said in a press briefing that a small but increasing number of infections with the XBB1.5 variant had been detected in Europe.
Catherine Smallwood, chief emergency officer for the World Health Organization in Europe, said that passengers should be advised to wear masks in high-risk places such as long flights, adding that “this should be a recommendation for passengers coming from anywhere where Covid-19 disease is widespread.” “.
Health officials said the XBB1.5 variant, the most infectious variant of the Omicron strain, accounted for 27.6% of infections in the United States on January 7.
It is not yet clear whether the new variant will cause a new global wave of infections. Experts say current vaccines still provide protection against severe symptoms, hospitalizations and death.
On Tuesday, the European Union’s aviation safety agency and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control issued recommendations for flights between China and the European Union including “non-drug measures to limit the spread of the virus, such as mask-wearing and testing of passengers, as well as wastewater monitoring as an early warning tool to detect coronavirus.” New Mutants”.
new wave?
The astonishing spread of the “XPP 5.1” mutant, also called “Kraken”, the latest and most ferocious variant of the Omicron strain, led WHO experts to issue a warning of a potential wave of coronavirus spreading in the United States.
Although the risk is not yet clear, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical officer for Covid-19, confirmed that although the risk is not yet clear, it is “the most transmissible form of omicron to date.”
This wave of infections could cause disruption amid an already historically poor respiratory virus season, and continue to increase hospitalizations, especially among the elderly and those with immunocompromised conditions.
This comes at a time when antibodies have become largely ineffective against the current variables of the Covid-19 epidemic, according to media sources specialized in health affairs. Meanwhile, pandemic-era investments in surveillance of new viruses, vaccines, and treatments are declining.
Reports indicate that the public has largely abandoned strategies to limit the spread of the epidemic, such as wearing masks, and that re-vaccination was much less than what was agreed upon by the vaccination centers.
In the same context, the World Health Organization announced that it does not expect the high number of cases of the Covid-19 epidemic in China to significantly affect Europe.
