The undersecretary of Prevention and health promotion, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, reported that as of Monday, December 20, 23 cases of the Covid-19 Omicron variant in Mexico.
During the President’s morning press conference Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Gatell detailed that of the 23 samples identified, three were studied in detail and they were the ones that were released last week; and there is 20 additional that were detected by genetic sequencing in a national institute of health, but that this institute has not yet informed the National Epidemiological Surveillance System.
The cases have been located in four entities of the Republic: in Tamaulipas a sample was detected, which corresponds to a woman 48 years old with no vaccination history; at Mexico state Were detected six samples, which correspond to four men and two women, with an average age of 62 years and the 6 people had not received the Covid-19 vaccine; in Mexico City Were detected 16 samplesOf these, 10 correspond to men and six to women, the median age is 33 years, and 56% of those infected did not have a vaccination history, and in Sinaloa there is a sample awaiting sequencing. Additionally, in the CDMX there are three samples that are in the same situation.
In the presentation of the Undersecretary, it was indicated that of the 23 cases, 61% were men and the mean age of the infections is 45 years old.
López-Gatell reported that so far the 23 people infected with the Omicron variant have mild symptoms of the disease, and none have had to be hospitalized for health reasons.
“The only one (hospitalized) was the initial case that we announced a couple of weeks ago, which was voluntarily hospitalized to prevent infections, it did not infect any of its close contacts, the person of course no longer has any symptoms or is contagious “, He said.
The first case of Ómicron in Mexico was a 51-year-old South African citizen who arrived in the country on November 21 and was confirmed by the government on December 3.
On the other hand, the federal official pointed out that 70% of the people infected with the Omicron variant in the country had not been vaccinated against Covid-19, “This leads us to remember that the fundamental prevention measure for the covid epidemic is to get vaccinated ”.
He insisted that the population should be vaccinated, either in the case of people who have not received the primary vaccination scheme or in people who are already receiving the booster dose, he recalled that most people with Covid-19 who require hospitalization is because of not being vaccinated.
López-Gatell reported that as of yesterday, 146 million 863,343 doses of vaccines against Covid-19 had been applied since the vaccination program began, on December 23, 2020. He detailed that 72 million 263,651 people have already received the complete scheme primary vaccination, while 9 million 632,875 people have already received their new scheme, that is, the booster dose against Covid-19.
For his part, the Chancellor Marcelo Ebrard reported that he will accompany President López Obrador on Tuesday in a meeting by teleconference with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blink, to address Ómicron’s advancement in the region.
Washington announced earlier that it will distribute millions of free Covid tests as the new variant – discovered in late November in South Africa – advances, which is now the dominant coronavirus strain in the United States.
Its rapid spread has led some countries to again take tough restriction measures, while the WHO has called for more efforts to ensure the end of the pandemic next year.
In Mexico, the pandemic has stabilized for about three months. With 27 of the 32 states in the lowest level of health alert, Mexico has almost completely normalized its activity, although authorities insist on recommending the use of masks and seeking hygiene measures.
(With information from Reuters)
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx