Dr. Koliou: Third wave if people do not follow the measures - What he said about mutations

A third wave will occur if the people see the de-escalation as an opportunity to trample on the implementation of the measures, said today at KYPE the Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases at the University of Cyprus and Chairman of the Special Committee of the Pancyprian Medical Association to treat Koronio , who said that until the target of a desired percentage of vaccination coverage is reached, we must engage in a road race in order to keep the positive cases low.

Ms. Koliou, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Health, believes that until high vaccination coverage is achieved "we must throw ourselves into a road race, in order to keep cases low and not run out of stocks in relation to the adequacy of the health system ".

As he noted, if this is achieved "then we will definitely be in a very good situation", however, he added that "if we let a wave explode and we do not pay attention and see de-escalation as an opportunity to step on the implementation of measures - and I speak for the world "Then we may have a problem."

Regarding the increase in the positive cases of coronavirus, as well as the increase in the number of patients, which has been observed in recent days, Ms. Koliou said that "an increase was expected to some extent", to note that "how much they will increase will be seen in the coming days and whether this increase will be really worrying or not ".

Asked about the increase in cases among students recently, Ms. Koliou expressed her concern, saying that the increase may be due to mutations in the virus strains that currently prevail.

He explained that during the first wave of the pandemic, young people were somewhat resistant to the virus, noting that at the moment "they seem to be more easily infected, possibly due to mutations".

In relation to the British mutation, which was also detected in Cyprus, Ms. Koliou stated that it shows increased contagion at a young age.

"So," he said, "we are dealing with a differentiated virus, which is much more contagious."

Asked to comment on the results from the ECDC received by the Ministry of Health, according to which the British strain of the virus was detected in a total of 31 samples from Cyprus, Ms. Koliou stated that "all the appearances of mutated strains are of concern to us".

As he said, "apart from the British strain, the Cypriot strain of the B1-258 virus is also circulating in Cyprus, which also includes the British mutation", noting that "in fact we have a large extent of the British mutation".

"We are definitely worried and it is a problem, which I hope will not peak," he said.

Further analyzing the issue of mutations, he said that "mutant strains take advantage of the ability to multiply and when they have unlimited potential for multiplication in a country where no measures are taken and waves of the disease occur without being able to control, then its uncontrolled proliferation virus brings possibilities of mutation and emergence of strains with increased advantages, such as increased transmissibility ".

He estimated that other mutant strains may appear, noting that "we need to move quickly with vaccination coverage."

Answering a question about the Cypriot mutant and whether it is responsible for the reduction of cases, Ms. Koliou clarified that the Cypriot mutant may be responsible for the wider transmission, adding that the reduction of cases results only from the measures and from the vaccine.