Kon: The Delta strain of coronavirus will conquer the whole world, it's only a matter of time

Epidemiologist and member of the Crisis HQ Dr. Predrag Kon told RTS that for now there is no information that the Delta strain of coronavirus has appeared in Serbia but that it is clear that when one virus dominates like that, it will cover the whole world and this is only a matter of time.

"It's very important whether this virus will enter the country in larger clusters, groups, or individually, and what the situation will be regarding the possibility of its spreading. We have a relatively solid situation, in the sense that we have a lot of vaccinations, but Britain also had it, Israel also has it, then the number of new cases rose ten-fold since mid-June," said Kon.

He stressed that the transmission of the virus directly depends on how many vulnerable people we have, and if the measures are respected, barriers are created for the virus which prevent fast transmission.

"We must say that we are not completely safe yet, we cannot say that the situation is safe or normal. The virus is still here among us. Especially in Belgrade, over the last four days, it has been on a slight (rise) or is stagnating once again, it is no longer falling day by day," said Kon.

He added that care should be taken when it comes to gatherings and the frequency of contacts.

"Now, in the summer, we enter closed spaces to cool down and we have more contacts there, just like in the winter when we are in closed spaces to warm up," Kon stressed.

Speaking about the faster spread of the Delta strains of coronavirus, Kon said that transmission faster by 40 to 60 percent is being mentioned.

"The original virus was transmitted on average from one infected person to three others, and this is transmitted on average to five. That is why the coverage of vaccination must be significantly higher in order to prevent its transmission," Kon explained.

He stressed that in Great Britain, it seemed that mortality rate was maintained while the number of new cases was growing, but that the number of deaths has also been increasing in the last five days.

"That increase or decrease in mortality rates is about four weeks late, depending on the situation, we cannot say with certainty whether this is a strain that is more invasive. In any case, they often say that it is a strain that looks more like flu and produces a relatively mild disease, but these are still only preliminary impressions," said Kon.

Kon stressed that existing vaccines also protect us from new strains.

"Precisely that is the only way out of this situation and I don't know how to choose words to convey it to our population, that now everything depends directly on young people, whether they are vaccinated or not, because we are now facing a period of various celebrations, various festivals, various events where there will be gatherings. Those gatherings will be safe only if protected people are there," Kon pointed out.

He advised everyone who has not been vaccinated not to attend such gatherings.

"Because in Great Britain, the ratio of those who are vaccinated and those who are not is 1 to 25. Here at the moment, the latest information from Batajnica (Covid hospital) is that none of those treated there have been vaccinated. Therefore, the data on the protection provided by the vaccine is so strong that there is no need to talk much about it. We just need to convince people, especially young people, that they should get vaccinated," said Kon.

Speaking about the current epidemiological situation, Kon said that the level of the virus activity is stabilizing more and more, but also that we cannot live outside the world and not consider the appearance of the Delta strain.

He added that it cannot be said that the situation is extraordinary, nor that it is unfavorable, instead describing it as uncertain.

"If we get vaccination up to 70 percent, we can be completely calm in the fall, regardless of the situation around the world," Kon stressed.

(Telegraf.rs)