Reducing the capacity to 50% in places of entertainment and in public transport is one of the requests made by the College of Physicians of Pichincha.
The omicron variant the coronavirus puts the world on alert again, and Ecuador is not far from worry, as the most festive month approaches due to the Quito celebrations (capital of the Republic), the Christmas and the New Year.
Given this, the Pichincha College of Physicians suggested keeping the vaccination levels against the virus and carry out a promotional campaign on the need to strictly follow biosecurity measures.
What’s more, avoid citizen relaxation with the progressive flexibility of control measures.
The mayor of Quito, Santiago Guarderas, and the president of the national Emergency Operations Committee (COE), Juan Zapata, the president of the union, Víctor Álvarez, asked them to suspend all mass acts within the city festivals due to an increase in cases. Too, decrease capacity to 50% in the places of diversion and in the public transport.
Daniel simancas, research director of the UTE University, indicated that to avoid contagions by the new omicron variant, it is necessary to vaccinate against COVID-19 and place the reinforcement, use the mask correctly or double mask, handwashing or use alcohol or gel, have a adequate ventilation and frequent, prefer outdoor activities, avoid closed places, avoid crowds, take a screening test before attending meetings, do not go to work sick, do not send sick children to school.
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For Juan Sanchez, medical technical director of IESS Quito Sur hospital, the transmission mechanism of the variant is the same, that is, by airway, for which he argued that the measures should remain the same. use of mask, frequent hand washing, social distancing, avoid attending events without the necessary protection and access the vaccine in a timely manner make it available and do not delay or reject it.
Although little is known in the region about the omicron variant, which emerged in South Africa and is already circulating in Europe, there is concern among Ecuadorian doctors. Even more so when at this time of year many migrants living in that continent come to the country to spend Christmas and New Years with their families and loved ones.
In this context, Wilson Tenorio, president of the Guayas Medical College, argues that the requirement of a negative COVID-19 test should be resumed for those who arrive in the country through airports, to guarantee, among other things, that this person does not come with symptoms related to the virus.
“Ports and airports duly supplied, duly controlled, that exhaustive surveillance and control be carried out,” he says.
The doctor mentions that it is necessary for the Government to reinforce the sequencing of variants carried out by certain universities and specialized centers to make it clear which strains are present in the country.
“That there is a frankness of figures, of which are the variants that are really circulating in the country. That is necessary ”, he expresses.
Likewise, Tenorio considers it prudent to avoid crowds at festivals and activities typical of the time.
The epidemiologist Johnny Real agrees with these suggestions. He believes that it is possible that the variant omicron already circulate in America and before that it considers pertinent to reinforce genomic surveillance.
“It is not being done in a sustained manner, on the one hand, and there are no sentinel posts at the entry points for the random sampling of patients who may have arrived in the country,” says the specialist.
He mentions that the new variant can be detected with the PCR test that is applied in the country.
“The false perception that one has that everything is controlled here is not like that. This variant is risky and of great concern because it adapts very quickly to the environment and to people. On the other hand, it has the ability to make an immune escape, that is, it can circumvent people’s defenses ”, Real points out, adding that more than 30 mutations have been detected in the omicron gene.
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Francisco Plaza, former president of the Guayas College of Physicians, indicated that the virus continues to mutate, generating lineages of high concern and contagion with dangerous variants such as delta and omicron.
He believes that it is necessary to adopt preventive measures such as resuming face-to-face classes as of April 4, resuming the rate of vaccination, testing and sequencing to achieve group immunity of 90% until December 31, as well as the booster dose. for those over 50.
It also advises to suspend the end of the year and carnival holidays, a strict epidemiological control of borders, maritime terminals, more quarantine of international flights and passengers from the affected areas with the new omicron variant.
Plaza believes that it is necessary to prohibit clandestine gatherings and parties, as well as public festivals of any nature until January 15, 2022, suggesting to the public that family gatherings should be only for 20 people and in open spaces.
According to Plaza, it is necessary to return to the limited capacity of no more than 50% in convention centers, transportation and commercial premises, and no more than 70% in open spaces.
For the Ecuadorian Society of Public Health, it is necessary to strengthen genomic surveillance as well as community-based epidemiological surveillance, conducting diagnostic tests on a larger scale, and studies of the efficacy of the vaccine against the variants in terms of hospitalizations and deaths.
Fernando Sacoto, president of the Ecuadorian Public Health Society, added that progress should be made in vaccination and redouble information, education and communication efforts to maintain preventive measures taking into account the upcoming holiday season, which implies greater risk. . (I)
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