New variant of COVID-19 in Mexico will be a new challenge to face: López-Gatell

The new variant coronavirusCOVID-19) emerged at the end of 2020 in UK and that he already identified himself in at least 30 countries, among them Mexico, could circulate in many more nations in a few months, according to the Dr. Hugo López-Gatell, Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion.

During the conference this Saturday on the advance of the pandemic in the country, the official explained that this “misnamed new strain” will represent a great challenge for health authorities because it is more contagious than SARS-CoV-2 that arrived in Mexican territory in March 2020.

There have been considerations that this variant, because it is more transmissible, could be more intense the burden of Covid-19 disease, and be part of the challenges to face during 2021 […] It is very likely that the same strain will circulate around the world at some point; to become the predominant variant ‘

Last weekend it was announced that it was detected the first case of the new variant known as B117, in the state of Tamaulipas. Was a 56 year old man that works for China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), explained the State Health Secretariat.

“The state of health of this person of British origin is serious. He began to have symptoms on January 4, and later, unfortunately, his state of health, with his oxygen saturation, dropped, “said the Tamaulipas Health Secretariat, Gloria Molina at a press conference.

The entity continued with health and flight protocols where that person traveled, along with 46 passengers. “33 of the passengers were identified, all of whom were called, and of them, 12 were still in Matamoros until Sunday.

“Four presented symptoms, one is the positive patient, two negative and one we will have the result today (January 11) ”, commented the official.

On the other hand, when asked about the complaints in some states about officials receiving the vaccine against COVID-19 without being part of the front-line medical staff In the fight against the pandemic, López-Gatell called for report representatives who “skip the line” to initiate the corresponding investigations.

Report it. Whoever sees this, report it. It’s very important. How do you proceed? From a complaint […] But not helping to document it, it is practically the equivalent of a gossip … gossip does not help ‘

And is that the councilwoman of Acapulco, Patricia Batani Giles, he boasted this Saturday in his social networks have received the long-awaited dose, despite the fact that it did not correspond to him because he was not part of the care of patients with the disease.

Batani Giles published in his account Facebook photographs in which he is seen receiving the vaccine at the General Hospital of Quemado, in Acapulco, Guerrero. In addition, the councilor accompanied the photos with a message in which she thanked the nurses for their application of the dose.

“Finally now, and we are going for the second dose in 21 days, thank you fellow nurses. Thank you my dear Lily. The vaccination didn’t hurt me”Wrote the Moreno councilor.

The councilor’s publication was criticized on social networks, and hours later Batani Giles he deleted it from his Facebook account.

However, López-Gatell stated, without giving names, that there are officials who are part of the vaccination brigades and have the authorization to receive the formula from Pfizer-BioNTech Pharmaceuticals:

Those who coordinate the Corre Caminos brigades, it is indicated in the vaccination plan that the members of the brigade are also vaccinated. So that you are not surprised, perhaps due to lack of information. It is not an anomaly, it is not an abuse, it is part of what is planned ‘

The Ministry of Health announced this Saturday January 16, 2021, the record of 20,523 new infections, as well as 1,219 deaths caused by COVID-19, disease caused by the Sars-Cov-2 virus, in the country.

In this way, they have been reported 1,630,258 accumulated confirmed cases and 140,241 deaths caused for coronavirus disease.

Regarding hospital saturation, Dr. Ricardo Cortés Alcalá, head of the General Directorate for Health Promotion, reported that 59% of the general beds nationwide are occupied.

With this same report, in beds equipped with ventilation support, i.e. intensive care, it was announced that overall occupancy is 52 percent.

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