European Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Countries should pay close attention to possible vaccine ineffective cases to prevent and control virus mutations
China News Agency, Berlin, December 21 (Reporter Peng Dawei) The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) released a risk assessment briefing on the 21st that after the emergence of a variant strain of the new crown virus in the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands have also reported infections. Several confirmed cases of the virus strain, and media reports showed that the virus strain also appeared in Belgium.
The center called on countries to take timely measures to prevent and control the spread of mutant strains, and at the same time, they should closely monitor possible cases of ineffective vaccination among people who are about to start vaccination against the new crown.
The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (European Center for Disease Control and Prevention) in Stockholm, Sweden is the European Union's specialized agency responsible for the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
London was "closed", the streets were sparsely pedestrian, and theaters and non-essential shops were closed.
Photo by Zhang Mengqi issued by China News Service
A briefing issued by the center that day pointed out that although many viruses will continue to mutate, preliminary analysis of the mutant strain of the new coronavirus discovered in the United Kingdom found that this strain is significantly more infectious than the strains previously transmitted in the population. , The basic infection number R0 means that it can be more than 0.4 higher than the latter, that is, the infectivity can be up to 70% higher than the old strain.
The European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that this mutant strain appeared in a year when people's family and social gatherings increased. There is currently no evidence that the new strain will cause an increase in the rate of severe illness in infected people.
The European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pointed out that due to the lack of sufficient evidence to investigate the extent of the spread of variant strains outside the UK, countries must now take necessary preventive and control measures in a timely manner to curb their spread.
On December 21, local time, after the UK announced the discovery of the mutant virus, many EU countries imposed a traffic blockade on the UK.
On the M20 highway near Ashford, England, long-distance freight trucks were unable to exit the country and lined up on the side of the road.
The main recommended measures include: public health departments and laboratories should promptly confirm cases of variant strains, contacts of variant strains or people who have been to relevant areas should be tested immediately and put into isolation, and their contacts should be traced. , In order to block the spread of the mutant strain; the country that confirms the infection of the mutant strain should immediately report to the European Union; countries should emphasize to the public to avoid unnecessary travel and social contact.
Since the European Union has approved the use of the new crown vaccine jointly developed by BioNTech in Germany and Pfizer in the United States on the same day, the European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes that people who have been vaccinated should be closely monitored and to ensure that possible vaccination failures or invalid cases can be detected when they occur. Perform genetic sequencing and analysis of viruses isolated from people who have not been vaccinated. (Finish)