Senior health official said Tuesday the Omicron Covid variant may complicate the local epidemiological situation if found in Jordan, as the Kingdom has entered the third wave of the pandemic, with the increase in the number of “Delta” variant infections and hospital admission rates.
“Omicron” was classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a disturbing variant, due to the number of genetic mutations that affect the many spiny proteins of the virus, which play a major role in the ability of the virus to cause infection and avoid acquired immunity against the virus, whether through previous infection or vaccinations, President of the National Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases Centre, Raeda Qutob said in a statement.
Qutob explained that the information available on the speed of the virus’ spread until now is not clear compared to the previous variants, as for the severity of the infection, the initial information received from South Africa in which the virus appeared indicates a clear increase in the number of cases admitted to hospitals, but it may be caused by South Africa entering a new wave of the pandemic and not by the variant itself.
If the spread of the Omicron variant between humans proved to be more rapid, this will lead to an increase in the number of infections, which will be reflected in an increase in the number of infections that may need clinical attention, which will increase pressure on the health system’s capacity, Qutob underlined. “This calls for taking the necessary precautions by adhering to physical distancing and wearing masks in the correct manner, in addition to taking vaccinations by the population.”
As for the effectiveness of vaccines against the Omicron variant, the Qutob noted that the coming weeks will be pivotal to understanding the effectiveness of vaccines against the variant, as vaccine production companies and WHO specialized committees are currently working to determine the speed of the virus’ spread, the severity of the disease, and the effectiveness of vaccines to address the variant.
Qutob emphasized the importance of applying procedures to monitor any positive infection with the omicron variant in Jordan and track contacts in addition to monitoring the variant through genetic sequencing to take the necessary precautions by decision-makers when more information is available about the variant in the future.
Source: Jordan News Agency