How long may symptoms of the emerging corona virus "Covid-19" extend? And what is the cause of the severity of the Delta strain infection? And how has it affected the world? The answers are in this report.
We start from the United Kingdom, where a recent study found that approximately 40% of patients with coronavirus may continue to have symptoms for 12 weeks after the onset of symptoms of corona, in the form of at least one symptom.
The research looked at data from the REACT-2 study led by Imperial College London, which was collected from random samples of the population between September and February, and the study included more than half a million adults in England, and was published on Imperial College London website.
Volunteers answered questions about the duration of 29 different shows related to "Covid-19".
And 37.7% reported at least one show over a 12-week period, according to The Independent.
The cases of those who showed symptoms at 12 weeks of age were divided into one of two groups based on the symptoms they were experiencing:
The first group included respiratory symptoms such as:
shortness of breath
shortness of breath
severe chest pain
In this group, more people reported severe symptoms of "Covid-19".
The second group had the predominant symptoms:
Tired
muscle pain
difficulty sleeping
Women, people who smoke, who are overweight or obese, who live in disadvantaged areas, or who have been hospitalized all have a higher risk of persistent symptoms, the researchers said, while Asians had a lower risk. Persistence of symptoms, with the risk increasing by 3.5% with each decade of life.
"Our findings paint a troubling picture of the long-term health consequences of COVID-19 that must be taken into account in policy and planning," said Professor Paul Elliott, REACT Director from the Imperial School of Public Health.
"Our findings paint a worrying picture of the long-term health consequences of COVID-19," Elliott added.
What is the cause of the severity of the Delta strain infection?
The Delta strain of the coronavirus - which was first discovered in India late last year - contains mutations in the gene that carries instructions for building the spike protein the virus uses to enter cells in the body, according to a report in the Guardian newspaper.
The newspaper quoted that, according to Public Health England, this provided the delta variant with up to 60% higher transmissibility than the alpha variant (British strain) of the virus.
Professor Wendy Barclay of Imperial College London says the delta variant appears to allow increased amounts of virus to accumulate in infected people until they expel more to infect other individuals.
In an analysis by Natalie Grover in The Guardian, the author said that it is clear that the Delta lineage has a great ability to transmit, but scientists have not yet established why.
Professor Catherine Knox, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies in the UK and expert on airborne infections at the University of Leeds, suggested 3 possible reasons:
People who are infected have a higher viral load, which means they may spread a larger amount through droplets.
People need to be exposed to less of the virus in order to become infected.
A relatively short exposure to an infected person is enough to spread the disease.
She said that it is possible for a person to become infected by approaching a vector for a few seconds if the carrier spews out a quantity of virus particles and the person happens to breathe at exactly the wrong moment.
The world is groaning under the weight of the mutated Delta dynasty
The mutated strain Delta is causing the outbreak of new infections in many countries, which necessitated a return to closures, restrictions on movement, and the adoption of remote work in order to contain the epidemic.
The French newspaper "Liberation" said that this strain is now present in at least 85 countries, according to the World Health Organization.
This mutated strain is alarmingly highly contagious throughout the world despite vaccination campaigns, especially in Russia, which announced a record number of deaths, and by the end of next August, this mutated strain may represent 90% of cases of “Covid-19” virus infection. in Europe.
The newspaper reported that the Delta strain raises concern in France, as it accounts for between 9 and 10% of new cases, and the regional health agency in the Occitanie region has launched an "immediate action plan" to call for examination and vaccination in order to "avoid a new wave of the epidemic." .
Portugal was the first country in the European Union to announce the monitoring of the mutated strain Delta, and the prevalence rate has so far reached 51% of new cases, and more than 70% in Lisbon.
To counter the spread of infection, the Portuguese government decided to tighten restrictions in the most affected municipalities, reduce working hours and capacity in restaurants and shops, while maintaining restrictions on movement between the Greater Lisbon region and the rest of the country's cities during the weekend.
And the cases of the Delta strain recorded a noticeable increase in the United Kingdom more than other European countries, as it includes 99% of the cases of infection, and this strain spread very quickly, with a toll of more than 130 thousand infected.
The United Kingdom recorded more than 16,000 new cases, a number not recorded since last February, and the deteriorating health situation prompted the government to postpone the lifting of the latest restrictions for 4 weeks after a long winter closure, and the only good news is that the number of deaths remained low, as it ranged Between 0 and 27 cases per day for more than two months.
Russia
The health situation is deteriorating very quickly in Russia, as Moscow announced yesterday, Sunday, that it had recorded a record number of deaths from the virus, which amounted to 144 cases within only 24 hours, to be the worst toll recorded by the city since the beginning of the epidemic, and St. It reached 107 deaths in just one day.
The mutated delta strain spread throughout Russia, which announced a record number of 21,665 new infections the day before yesterday, Saturday, and the number of infections increased by 25% during the past seven days compared to the previous seven days, and the official number of deaths increased by 33%.
Accordingly, the Russian authorities have taken some preventive measures, including obligating at least 30% of all employees to work remotely.
Australia issued a decree to close 4 regions in Sydney, and decided to extend this measure for a period of two weeks to include the entire capital, which has a population of 5 million, and more than 110 people have been infected with the Delta strain this week, and some cases were recorded in the Northern Territory and the states of Victoria and Queensland during recent days. .