Portugal is the EU country with the most cases of the Delta Plus variant (which is after all the known Nepalese mutation)

Is Delta Plus the new alternative? No, it’s Delta as well as the K417N mutation, hence the name Delta Plus or in Portuguese, Delta Mais. That is, it is a mutation of the Indian variant, known as Nepalese boom. In Portugal, there is at least 24 cases of delta plusThe Minister of Health confirmed next Wednesday.

So far, Delta Plus has been identified in ten countries, according to Public Health England report About variants of the novel coronavirus that was released last Friday. In addition to India and Portugal, it is also distributed in the United States, China, Japan, Nepal, Russia, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Poland. The report also indicates that Portugal is the third country with more cases of Delta PlusAnd after the United States (83) and the United Kingdom (36).

Portugal, in fact, The EU country with the most reported cases of the Nepalese mutation, as confirmed by another European Center for Disease Control and Prevention report (ECDC), which cites data from Public Health England, was published this Wednesday. The center also stated that “the ratio of the variable B.1.617.2 + K417N [Delta Plus] Currently very low in EU/EEA countries.”

Although India is now warning about this new alternative, it was already known in Portugal but under another name: the Nepalese boom, the one that was supposed to be in The origin of Portugal’s exit from the “Green List” Traveling in the UK in early June, recalls epidemiologist Manuel Carmo Gomez.

“The delta variant contains a group of mutations that characterize it as a whole” and within it there are three important strains, the second being the most dangerous in terms of transmission and Who dominates Portugal. “Within the Delta dot variant, there is a ‘sub-breed’ that has a very special mutation associated with Nepal,” explains the expert at Expresso.

“In Portugal we call the Nepalese boom,” confirms Thiago Correia, a specialist in international health. At the moment, it is difficult to know whether Delta Plus will present a greater danger to Portugal. “Nobody can predict what will happenTherefore, “nothing has changed for Portugal at the moment,” he replied.

“What the Indian authorities are currently studying, and they have no conclusions about because it is still early days, is whether Delta Plus, in addition to being more transmissible, could cause an increase in the severity of the disease,” says Tiago Correa. According to the senior researcher at Global Health and Tropical Medicine, there is some preliminary data (preliminary confirmation) on this May indicate poor health.

But for Manuel Carmo Gómez, who is also a professor at the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Science, the “key message” is that Delta variable as a whole is ‘dangerous because it is highly transmissible’. “We have to focus on the delta variant globally, because whether it has a Nepalese mutation or not, it is 50-70% more transmissible than the British one,” he asserts.

The Minister of Health had already commented on the boom, calling for “caution”. “We have honestly and transparently shared the results of both the estimates and the sequencing,” Marta Temedo said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the presentation of the Spring 2021 report by the Portuguese Health Systems Observatory. Viral mutations are expected, of course. phenomena that occur We must act wisely and observantly“.

Having the complete vaccine schedule is more important in the delta variant

To prevent Delta Plus – or any other type of novel coronavirus, in fact – from gaining representation in Portugal, it is important ExamAnd the pollinate and respect public health measuresOn how to wear a mask and keep distance, they agree with the two experts Expresso has heard.

But in this case, boosting full vaccination (with two doses) is of further importance because, as Carmo Gomez explains, “we know that the protection offered by a dose of the vaccine against delta is less than that provided by a dose of the vaccine against the British variant”, now known as alpha. In other words, it is important to get people quickly up to the full vaccination schedule, because then “Protection is much higher أعلى“, Illustrates.

Completing the vaccine process is important for any variant, not just for Delta, it protects Tiago Correia. Confirming that the variable is more portable (all data indicates that), this makes The virus circulates faster than we can vaccinateSupports.

The United Kingdom chose to give the first dose to the largest number of people, ignoring the second dose, Fortunately Portugal did not do thatCarmo Gomez, professor at the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Sciences, confirms.

according to Tuesday’s data by the COVID-19 Vaccination Plan Task Force, 29% of the Portuguese population (almost three million people) already I completed the vaccination. on the other side, About half of the population (46%, nearly 4.7 million people) have already received at least one dose of vaccine.