Hossam Abdel Ghaffar

04:39 PM

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Books – Ahmed Gomaa:

Dr. Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population, revealed the latest developments in the new strain of the Corona mutant, “Omicon”, under the name “1.5.XBB”.

Abdul Ghaffar said in an awareness publication today, Wednesday, that the “1.5.XBB” mutant is a sub-strain of the “XBB” strain branching from the Omicron mutant, growing and transmitted rapidly compared to the rest of the strains.

He noted that 5,288 sequences of the 1.5.XBB variant were reported in 38 countries, the majority from the United States of America, Britain, Northern Ireland and Denmark.

The health spokesperson explained that if any virus had the opportunity to reproduce and make copies of itself, its genetic makeup would change sometimes, which is considered normal. These changes, which are known as genetic mutations, if they accumulate, then the new version of the virus is known as a mutated version (Variant ).

He pointed out that this natural process increases the possibility of its occurrence, if the virus is allowed to spread widely in a group of living organisms or from humans, and cause large numbers of infections. These mutations often do not lead to fundamental changes in the virus’ ability to infect or cause a person’s disease.

He directed a number of preventive measures to be followed, which include:

* Make sure to wear a mask in gathering places, crowded and poorly ventilated places, and in the presence of a suspected case of Covid-19

* The person suspected of being infected with Covid-19 must wear a mask to prevent the infection from being transmitted to people who are not infected

* The home isolation period must be adhered to for a period of 10 days from the date of onset of symptoms for people who have tested positive for coronavirus but do not have any signs or symptoms. Adhere to the 5-day isolation period.

* The patient can be removed from isolation early if the test result is negative.

* People who do not show symptoms are less likely to transmit the virus than those who do show symptoms

* Vaccines are still the first and most important line of defense against the emergence of mutated varieties of the virus

* Be sure to receive the booster dose of the vaccine six months after the date of the last dose, and three months if you are elderly or suffer from chronic diseases or weaken the immune system.