Israel could reach herd immunity, the British return to school with masks: the year begins with new measures to keep Covid at bay and new discoveries on the coronavirus pandemic. For example, several British studies claim that the Omicron variant causes a disease with milder symptoms because it affects the throat and not the lungs.
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Israel, the premier: “Thousands of infections a day”. Ash: “Possible herd immunity”
“The storm is coming, already in these days. Cases will double, then double again. Already in the near future we will have tens of thousands of infections a day”. This was the warning received today by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, in the weekly session of the Council of Ministers. A wave of Omicron infections could lead Israel to achieve herd immunity, the country’s chief health official, director-general of the health ministry, Nachman Ash, said on Sunday.
“The cost will be a lot of infections,” Ash told 103FMRadio. “The numbers will have to be very high to achieve herd immunity. This is possible, but we don’t want to achieve it through infections, we want it to happen as a result of vaccinating many people,” he said.
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Gb Studies: Omicon less severe because it affects the throat
Omicron affects the throat more than the lungs and this according to scientists could explain why this variant of Covid appears to be more contagious but less deadly than other strains of the virus. Six studies cited by Guardian, four of which were released on Christmas Eve, highlighted that Omicron does not harm the lungs like Delta and other previous variants. The studies have yet to be peer-reviewed.
“The result of all the mutations that make Omicron different from previous variants is that it may have altered its ability to infect different types of cells,” said Deenan Pillay, professor of virology at University College London. “Essentially, Omicron appears to be more capable of infecting the upper respiratory tract, the throat cells. So it would multiply more readily in those cells than in those of the lung.” They were preliminary but converging, “he commented.
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United Kingdom: Obligation to wear masks for children in school
In British secondary schools, a mask is required to reduce the spread of the Omicron variant. This was announced by the British government, after the concerns raised by the institutes, which will remain open despite the resurgence of the pandemic. Next week all schools in the UK will reopen after the Christmas break and so far England was the only country where there was no mask requirement for students. Teachers, on the other hand, will be able to continue not to use them. The provision will remain in force at least until January 26th.
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