COVID-19 | WHO recommends that infected people be quarantined for 14 days

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reiterated the importance of ensuring that 70% of the world population is vaccinated as soon as possible, in order to avoid the production of new variants of the disease. coronavirus, and has insisted that the quarantines should be 14 days.

This has been expressed by the organization’s epidemiologist, Abdi Mahamud, at a press conference in Geneva (Switzerland), held this Tuesday, in which he warned that countries while omicron continue to spread with the same “intensity” as Delta.

The expert explained that before the Christmas holidays, some 128 countries had reported cases of Omicron and pointed out that they still do not have enough data. “To say that the Ómicron is milder than other variants of the coronavirus”. In this sense, he stressed that vaccination is essential to deal with the virus.

Various studies, to which Mahamud has referred, show that Ómicron mainly affects the upper respiratory tract, which causes milder symptoms, compared to other variants that affected the lungs.

“The challenge is the vaccination of the most vulnerable populations. . These types of environments are the ideal places for the COVID-19 mutation. We already saw it with Beta, we saw it with Delta and we observed it with Ómicron ”, has stated.

Two week quarantines

On the other hand, the epidemiologist has detailed that in most people, and depending on their immune situation.

For this reason, the WHO recommends maintaining quarantines for 14 days although they understand that in some countries it has been reduced to a week of isolation.

“States have to make decisions about the duration of the quarantine based on their individual situation. It is logical to keep the number of cases as low as possible in places where these are already rare, but in places where there are many, there are competing interests, such as keeping the countries functioning, which could justify more quarantines. short ”, has underlined.

In relation to fluron coinfection, the expert has, since “they are two different viruses that use different receptors to attack the body.”

Cases increase 50% in America

During the last week of 2021, cases in America increased 50 percent and deaths increased 11 percent, according to the latest data from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

During the period between December 19 and 25, more than half of the countries and territories in the region reported an increase in cases of more than 20%. The Omicron variant was reported in 27 countries and territories in the Americas in the last week of 2021.

The three countries that registered the highest number of new cases have been the United States, Canada and Argentina.

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