In the last four weeks, cases of respiratory conditions have been declining, according to the Ministry of Health of the Municipality of Quito.
Francisco Viteri, Secretary of Health, pointed out that epidemiological surveillance of severe acute respiratory diseases such as: COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus is now carried out.
He recalled that at the end of the year and the beginning of the next, there have been epidemic outbreaks of respiratory diseases to which the coronavirus has been added.
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Viteri indicated that in mid-November there was a growth in cases, which arrived in mid-December, and during the last three weeks of 2022 they began to decrease.
“It has been maintained in the first week of the year 2023, which runs from January 2 to January 8,” he said.
He clarified that this does not mean that the transmission has disappeared, but that there are different seasonal changes that affect the increase or decrease.
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The positivity of antigen tests to detect coronavirus, which was 36.6% per 100 tests in mid-December, dropped to 27.1%.
Viteri considered that there probably will not be an increase in the following days, but -he added- that we will have to wait if there is any change.
The percentage of use of hospital beds was located at 3% and for intensive care, 6%.
He recalled the importance of vaccination, as he mentioned that there are some cases in which patients, especially with pre-existing or vulnerable diseases, develop more serious symptoms.
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“The last variant that we have circulating in the world, this has not proven to be more serious, more severe, or more transmissible than XBB 1.15, which is in the United States and in some European countries,” he said.
In Ecuador, this variant has not been found to circulate.
Gabriel Trueba, a researcher at the San Francisco de Quito University (USFQ), opined that it is not more dangerous than the omicron variants that have circulated, but that it was too early to determine if it is more contagious.
Regarding vaccination, Viteri indicated that in Quito there are 65% of people vaccinated with the third or first booster dose against the coronavirus, and 93% who have received the full scheme, or two doses. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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