2023-11-12 10:47:00
12:47 PM Sunday, November 12, 2023
Books – Ahmed Gomaa:
A source at the Ministry of Health and Population revealed Egypt’s position on the new Corona variant known as “JN.1”, which raised concern following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States announced its spread.
This comes at a time when health experts in the United Kingdom warned of the emergence of a new, mutated strain of the Corona virus that is more transmissible, coinciding with a decrease in infection cases in the country.
The source said in statements to Masrawy that “the spread of this strain in Egypt has not yet been proven,” but at the same time he warned of the necessity of taking all precautionary measures to prevent the spread of respiratory virus infections at this time of the year that witnesses weather fluctuations and low temperatures.
Dr. Hossam Hosni, Head of the Scientific Committee to Combat Corona at the Ministry of Health, previously commented on this strain by saying, “Corona still exists, its symptoms are less severe than the symptoms that existed before, and the new variant’s symptoms are not severe.”
He pointed out in statements to Masrawy that the World Health Organization considered the virus as a mutant whose symptoms were less severe, and the speed of its spread was like other previous variants, “but we take care of it.”
He stressed that the newly introduced vaccines are effective in preventing these variants.
In turn, Dr. Wagdi Amin, Director of the Chest Diseases Department at the Ministry of Health, said in press statements that the new Corona variant JN.1 is a mutant version of BA.2.86 and contains 20 mutations on the spike protein, which was a source of great concern when it was first discovered. .
He added that the JN.1 variant accounts for less than 0.1% of coronavirus cases in the United States at the moment, and was first discovered in September 2023 in the United States, and has been detected in 11 other countries.
“Although BA.2.86 and BA.2.1 look very different because of the way the variants are named, there is only one change between JN.1 and BA.2.86 in the spike protein,” he said.
Regarding the presence of new symptoms of the new Corona variant, “Amin” said that, so far, no new symptoms associated with infection due to JN.1 have appeared, and this may be due to the decrease in the number of cases associated with this new variant. Since it is a sub-variant of the Omicron variant, the symptoms that appear It is quite similar to its predecessors.
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