China News Service, January 11 (Chen Shuang) According to data from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, in the past weekend, the number of confirmed cases of new crowns worldwide surged by nearly 2 million, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases worldwide to more than 90 million.
This means that with the spread of the mutant new coronavirus, there have been 10 million new confirmed cases in the past 15 days.
WHO Director-General Tan Desai said that currently, under the influence of both the mutant virus and the new crown vaccine, "we have entered a new phase of the new crown pandemic."
Data map: Tan Desai, Director-General of the World Health Organization.
[A new challenge]
According to Kluger, director of the European Regional Office of the World Health Organization, in 2021, the mutation of the new crown virus may become a new challenge facing the world.
According to reports, due to the large-scale population movement of various countries at the end of 2020, the mutant new coronavirus has spread to many countries.
The WHO's report on January 5 stated that there have been cases of infection with the mutant virus found in South Africa in 7 countries and regions around the world.
Statistics from the British "Guardian" on the 8th showed that as of that day, there have been 45 countries and regions around the world with virus variant infection cases found in the UK, of which 13 countries have reported community transmission of the mutant virus.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently stated that the variant strain "is spreading in the United States more widely than we have found so far."
Kluger pointed out that although humans have new tools such as vaccines to deal with the epidemic in 2021, the continuous mutation of the new coronavirus during the spread is "worrying".
So, what is the harm of the mutant new coronavirus?
Will the vaccine that we have high hopes fail because of this?
On January 5, 2021 local time, the United Kingdom adopted the third stringent blockade, and the streets of London are sparsely pedestrian.
The picture shows a pedestrian crossing the street in front of the Royal Exchange.
[Two main variants]
Up to now, the WHO has officially notified 4 new coronavirus variants.
Among them, the "VOC 202012/01" virus variant (also known as the B.1.1.7 mutant strain) found in the United Kingdom and the "501Y.V2" found in South Africa have received the most attention due to widespread spread.
——Mutated new coronavirus is the culprit of the surge in cases?
On December 14, 2020, the United Kingdom reported to the WHO a variant of the new coronavirus named VOC 202012/01, in which the S protein contains the N501Y mutation, which first appeared in southeast England.
Four days later, South Africa notified another variant of the new coronavirus. In addition to the S protein N501Y mutation, the variant also had E484K and K417N mutations.
Studies have shown that these two variants have stronger spreading power.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the "VOC 202012/01" virus variant was first discovered in September 2020. By November, about a quarter of the new crown infection cases in London were related to it. In mid-December, This figure is close to two thirds.
South African Minister of Health Mhertz also stated in December last year that the "501Y.V2" mutant virus was the "culprit" of the second wave of rapid spread of the virus in South Africa.
The WHO study believes that the above two variants will not increase the severity of the disease, the mode of transmission has not changed, and most diagnostic tools will not be affected.
On January 4, 2021, local time, New York, USA, nurse Sandra Lindsay received the second shot of the new crown virus vaccine at the Long Island Jewish Hospital.
-Will the mutant virus affect the effectiveness of the vaccine?
The BBC quoted experts as saying that although the changes in the mutated new coronavirus strains found in the UK are unlikely to damage the effectiveness of the current vaccine, the mutations in the mutated new coronavirus strains found in South Africa may affect it to some extent. The function of the vaccine.
The South African National Institute of Infectious Diseases said on the 10th that medical experts in the country are testing the new coronavirus vaccine that will be put into use to determine whether it is still effective against the mutated new coronavirus.
Fortunately, experiments have shown that the new coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer in the United States and the German Biotech Company seems to be effective against the mutant strains of the mutant new coronavirus found in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
The CEO of the German biotech company once said that even in the worst case, if necessary, the vaccine can be redesigned and adjusted within a few weeks or months to better respond to the mutant virus.
——What other variants of the new coronavirus?
In addition to the four variants of the new crown virus notified by the WHO, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan stated on January 10 that four men and women who arrived at Tokyo's Haneda Airport from Brazil were diagnosed with the variant new crown virus.
This mutant virus is different from the virus variants found in the United Kingdom and South Africa, and Japan has reported this to the World Health Organization.
The White House New Crown Epidemic Task Force stated on January 3 that the recent increase in the number of cases in the United States is nearly twice that of the spring and summer of 2020.
"This acceleration shows that in addition to the mutant virus strains found in the UK, there may also be an American mutant virus strain that has evolved and has spread in our communities, and the virus transmission capacity may increase by 50%." However, the US CDC denied. In addition to this statement, it is said that there is no evidence that there is a native mutant new coronavirus in the United States.
Data map: On December 27, 2020 local time, a citizen of San Francisco, California, USA, wearing a mask, passed by the Palace of Arts.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Guanguan
[Three derivative issues]
The spread of the virus has not yet been controlled, and the number of cases is still increasing. In the context of the normalization of anti-epidemic measures in various countries, some social problems derived from the epidemic have gradually been exposed.
-Anti-epidemic fatigue requires vigilance
The new crown epidemic has changed the world and people's daily lives.
Today, most people are accustomed to wearing masks, reducing gatherings, and maintaining social distancing. However, some people have begun to take it lightly because of the fatigue of fighting the epidemic.
In the United States, during the Christmas and New Year holidays just past, a large number of people ignored warnings and insisted on traveling and attending large parties. Some were even arrested by the police for organizing a cocktail party for hundreds of people.
These actions have led to the continued increase in the US epidemic data. The number of new deaths reported in a single day on January 7 exceeded 4000 for the first time, setting a new historical record again.
——The medical system bears heavy pressure
The most direct impact of the surge in cases is the saturation of medical resources, and the medical systems of various countries are under heavy pressure due to the epidemic.
In Los Angeles, California, where the epidemic is the worst in the United States, due to the large number of confirmed patients, the shortage of medical resources has not been eased.
The emergency medical service department even instructed emergency personnel to give up transporting patients with extremely low survival rates in order to save medical resources, and public opinion was in an uproar.
In London, United Kingdom, Mayor Sadiq Khan once again pleaded with people to stay at home. He said: “If we do not take immediate action, our national health service system may be overwhelmed and more people will die.” In addition, including Japan, In many countries, including Indonesia, people in the medical profession have issued a warning that the medical system is about to collapse.
On the evening of December 26, 2020 local time, the Japanese government announced that from December 28 to the end of January next year, new entries worldwide will be suspended.
The picture shows Tokyo International Airport, Japan.
——When will the economic "cold winter" be closed?
On the other hand, the restriction of economic activities caused by epidemic prevention and control measures has also led to tremendous pressure on the economies of various countries and difficult economic development.
In February 2020, the United States, the world's largest economy, ended its economic expansion for more than 10 years.
The International Monetary Fund predicted in October that the US economy would shrink by 4.3% in 2020.
According to a report issued by the OECD in December 2020, affected by the epidemic, the euro zone economy fell by 7.5% that year.
The European Commission predicts that the European economy will not return to its pre-epidemic level until 2022.
The Global Economic Outlook report released by the World Bank on January 5, 2021 stated that due to the continuous spread of the new crown epidemic, the world economy will remain in a downturn in the first half of 2021.
However, the popularization of the new crown vaccine and the effect of more fiscal stimulus policies will help the world economy recover, and the economic growth prospects for the whole year of 2021 are relatively optimistic.