Omicron, the experts: "It was a mistake to underestimate it, infections are growing even in Sardinia"

The Ministry of Health raises the alert on the Omicron variant , which in Italy records about fifteen cases, two of which on the island .

And while the Istituto Superiore di Sanità pushes on the sequencing of suspicious swabs, many scientists warn that yes, it is a more infectious variant of Delta but less symptomatic.

Confirmation also came from EMA, the European Medicines Agency: "Preliminary data suggest that cases of the Omicron variant appear to be mostly mild, but more evidence needs to be gathered to determine if the disease severity spectrum caused from Omicron is different from that of the previous variants. Only time will tell ”.

Therefore, caution. This is what the epidemiologist Giovanni Sotgiu, professor of medical statistics at the University of Sassari and dean of Medicine advises: "In the province of Gauteng, the area of South Africa where the variant first spread, severe cases from Omicron have increased more than 25% in the past 24 hours. I would therefore be careful before talking about a minor infection ". What it is necessary to see, “is first of all how the virus tends to develop in the geographical context and only subsequently, as already for the Alpha variants, ie English, and Delta, is an assessment of the severity made. On the other hand we are talking about a form of infection that in most cases turns out to be asymptomatic, so we can see the severity with higher numbers than the current ones ".

Sardinia too must be on alert, like the whole country: “In Italy, the situation is gradually worsening everywhere, and we see that infections are increasing in Italy too. Of course, we have more favorable epidemiological elements such as isolation and low population density, but it must be repeated that the vaccine goes well together with the other interventions, ie mask, spacing, ventilation of the premises, hand hygiene. Especially in the face of this variant which, according to studies, has a weekly growth advantage ranging from 189 to 260% compared to the Delta ".

VACCINES - Meanwhile, the third doses of the anti Covid vaccination are advancing, in the country and in Sardinia, and the first ones are also awakening: an average of one thousand every day on the island in the last four days (data from the Italian Post Office platform) are cheering. "True, but they do not solve: if the population does not protect itself with the vaccine, and there are still too many people who are not immunized, new potentially more dangerous variants will arise and the infections will increase", says Carlo Contini, from Sassari, professor of infectious diseases and director of the ward of the same name in the "Sant'Anna" university hospital in Ferrara.

The complete cycle on the island has been ensured for approximately 1,267,000 people. Of these 231 thousand have also "collected" the third dose, equal to 15%. “An excellent pace - comments Maurizio Marcias, head of the vaccination campaign of the Ats Company for the protection of health Sardinia - which places us in seventh place in Italy in terms of vaccination capacity”.

(Unioneonline)

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