Minister Alabí assured that the vaccine coming to El Salvador in 2021 would be effective against the new strain.
The Expanded Health Cabinet held a press conference on Monday, reiterating the call to the Salvadoran population not to relax biosafety measures in the face of the spread of COVID-19.
The Minister of Health, Francisco Alabí, assured that the increase in daily infections is due to the agglutinations taking place in different municipalities for holidays, Christmas purchases and the end of the year.
El Salvador registered 295 more coronavirus infections on Sunday, bringing the number of confirmed positive cases to 43,772, and the number of deaths a total of 1,257, according to official figures updated this Monday.
The official reported that there are no new restrictions so far, other than the ban on flights from the UK and South Africa, announced in the wake of the emergence of a new strain of the virus.
“ The decisions announced by the President were timely and aim to slow the arrival of this new mutation, delay the arrival of this condition that could facilitate the development of this coronavirus transmission and all necessary actions will be continued. so that the Salvadoran population has security, ”the official justified.
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With the new strain of the virus, any infected person could pass the virus to 10 more, the minister also explained. One of the hallmarks of this new mutation is that it is more contagious, but not more deadly.
Alabí explained that the vaccine that will come to El Salvador would be effective against the new strain, generating the immunity boosted from the start, as the mutation changes the way it attaches or how the virus affects human cells. penetrates, but the effects and symptoms are the same. He assured that the change in protein S makes adherence easier because the protein is more open.
“Nearly 70% increase in transmission (…) this could affect ten Salvadorans for each of the Salvadorans affected, in that sense we have to be very careful,” he said.
The official explained that this mutation only affects the S protein, but does not alter mortality and does not affect the principle of the vaccine “that is to generate immunity by generating sensitivity to the host.”
“In that regard, we can stay calm because the vaccine will continue to generate that effect and the mutations will continue to take place because it is changes that are generated in the context of population adaptation, the virus guarantees its survival,” he said.
Hundreds of people pass through San Salvador’s historic center to shop, board a transportation unit, and for tourism. Many of them have forgotten the correct use of the mask. Photo EDH / Jonatan Funes
Increase in cases
According to the official website of the Ministry of Health (Minsal), Sunday’s figure is the highest reported in December so far and further confirms the upward trend recorded in the country since the last 9 of that month. .
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Of the total confirmed cases, a total of 3,153 are active and 39,362 people have been recovered.
In addition, the Minsal reported that seven more people died from COVID-19. Six of the victims were men between the ages of 50 and 80, and the seventh was a woman over the age of 80.
Alabí warned Salvadorans of an increase in the number of daily cases, which could exceed hospital capacity for their care.
He also warned that the country is about to repeat the “most critical” moments of the coronavirus pandemic, which could trigger a “second wave” of infections in early 2021.
“We are on the brink of what happened at the most critical moments of the pandemic in our country,” the official said in reference to the months of July and August last year, when the highest number of daily infections occurred.
Against this background, President Nayib Bukele announced on his social networks on Sunday that he has banned the entry of people from South Africa and the United Kingdom due to the new mutation of the coronavirus discovered in the latter country, which makes it more contagious.
Bukele advised Salvadorans in Europe to “speed up their itineraries as much as possible before new restrictions are imposed by the new form of coronavirus.”
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The emergence of a new variant of the virus has forced the UK authorities to take tough restrictive measures in part of the country amid the alarming rise in infections.
Faced with scientific evidence indicating that the new species is accelerating transmission by up to 70%, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been forced to change plans for population movements before Christmas.