Maria Laura Avignolo
01/22/2021 1:50 PM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 01/22/2021 3:33 PM
The arrival of the British, South African and Brazilian variants to Great Britain and France have generated fear of a great epidemic and they are preparing with
draconian
measures
to control it.
Government officials are divided between those who want to shut everything down and isolate themselves and those who believe that "we must go ahead or take strict preventive measures," including
changing
current
masks
for safer ones.
The EU has accepted that each country can adopt the measures it deems necessary in the event of an emergency, especially around its borders.
In an emergency meeting on Thursday night, the 27 EU members discussed at a summit “the rapid escalation of the rigor of measures against the virus in the coming weeks to preserve hospital capacities, accelerate vaccination campaigns and decrease cross-border movements ”.
In Britain, ministers are pressuring Boris Johnson to close the borders.
His cabinet's project is
for non-British to
be
banned
from the kingdom by air, train and ferry.
CASES
0.000.00000.000
per million inhab.
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DEATHS
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Source:
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The prime minister had rejected the proposal but has returned to the agenda again due to the contagion problem generated by the variants.
The possibility will be discussed in a cabinet meeting that the premier will lead next week.
Currently flights to South America, Panama, Cape Verde and South Africa
are prohibited
from Great Britain.
Britain's R transmission rate fell from 0.8 to 1, suggesting that lockdown
is paying off
for the first time in weeks.
Imminent confinement
France faces the same problem.
Epidemiologists and government specialists urge Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron to
"severe national lockdown"
because the virus continues to circulate at "a high level" and "there is a tense situation with exhausted hospital staff."
Neither the executive branch nor its scientists hide it: France will
not be able to escape a third confinement
.
The discussion is whether they do it now and carry it forward for a longer time but do it or do it later, in a few weeks.
This was the public recommendation of Professor Renaud Piarroux, epidemiologist and head of the Parasitology service at the Pitié Salpetriêtriere Hospital, in Paris.
CASES
0.000.00000.000
per million inhab.
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DEATHS
00,0000,000
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Source:
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Chart:
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Infographic:
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The situation in France is not dramatic as in Great Britain.
But the problem is the effect that
the new variants,
already existing in France, are
going to have
on hospital capacity.
They expect an end to February and March with
loaded
intensive therapy rooms
.
“We are currently on a dynamic that is not going to affect hospitals imminently.
But that is going to force the executive branch to
impose restrictions
to avoid saturation at the end of February ”, analyzed Professor Mirceo Sofonea, Doctor in Epidemiology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases at the University of Montpellier.
According to his model, at the current rate, there could be 4,000 inpatients in intensive services in mid-February and 5,000 in early March.
But these figures may change if the pressure of new variants of the virus comes into play.
Tests in France.
Photo: Reuters
In this scenario, France would be forced to use its 4,000 intensive care beds that the country normally has for the virus and
cancel all operations
that require resuscitation.
The country has only two weeks to avoid that drama and they are working towards it.
The impact of the curfew, which has been in force since six in the afternoon throughout the country, will only be evaluated
in two more weeks.
France expects that in March the British variant of the virus will be the majority in the country.
The specialists forecast "a strong growth of the epidemic" and ask the government not to "confine
late
", when the hospitals are already loaded and the hospital, overflowing.
Desolate streets in London.
Photo: AP
Will the next French lockdown be very strict with school closings, as in March, or will it have a
more relieved
version
, as in November?
More than a scientific measure, it is
a political decision
that Emmanuel Macron will adopt.
Given the appearance of the variants, France
now requires a test
before reaching the country even from Europeans, and an obligatory quarantine plus another test.
They do not rule out closing the borders if necessary.
The chinstrap debate
So far it has 300 deaths per day.
But to limit the contagions they have established other criteria for the masks.
Health Minister Olivier Moran said that
handmade masks
are not safe for collective protection and there must be a social distance of 2 meters between people.
Only three types of masks are accepted: surgical,
one side white and one side light blue
, the FFP2, which are the most protective, and category 1 industrial textile masks, which filter
90 percent
of the particles.
The virus to the brain
A group of French researchers has been able to show that the virus not only penetrates the brain but also
contaminates neurons.
Nicolás Renier, from the Brain Institute in Paris and one of the study's co-authors, said it causes headaches,
dementia
, seizures and abnormal movements - all strange symptoms in hospitalized Covid 19 patients.
Paris, correspondent
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