AMMAN — Hundreds of cases of the
Delta variant of COVID-19 have been recorded in Jordan, raising questions about the country’s
recovery from the pandemic.
اضافة اعلان
On Saturday, Minister of Health Firas
Al-Hawari told local media that 245 cases of the variant have been documented
in the Kingdom. The vast majority (222) of the cases were recorded in Amman,
with the rest spread throughout Mafraq, Zarqa, and Karak.
Hawari also said that 87 percent of the cases
of the Delta variant were individuals who had not been vaccinated. The
remaining 13 percent had received only one dose of the vaccine.
According to Mohannad Al-Nsour, member of the
National Epidemiological Committee and executive director of the Eastern
Mediterranean Public Health Network, it was “expected” that cases of the
variant would crop up in Jordan.
“That means to me that our surveillance system
was able to detect these cases”, a promising sign, Nsour said in an interview
with
Jordan News. “We have to expect to find the Delta variant in Jordan… It’s
something that the ministry talked about one month ago.”
The expert urged plans towards taking more cautious
measures and applying the plans and manuals that we agreed on.”
In general, the epidemiological situation in
the Kingdom “is good, in terms of number of cases, positivity rates, and
admissions to hospitals.”
But even though they were expected, the Delta
cases are an “alarming issue” that indicate “we need to strengthen our
surveillance systems and make sure we continue doing lab tests and other
things.”
For Nsour, there are three main pillars Jordan
must employ in its pandemic response going forward.
The first deals with the variant itself. “We need to keep monitoring and keep
observing to modify our actions and plans accordingly based on these variants
that we have,” said Nsour.
The second pillar deals with the precautionary
measures people need to take to combat the virus. “The vaccine alone is not
enough: we need to make sure of the other precautions”, such as reconsidering
“mass gatherings inside the country, the full capacity going back to work,
social distancing, physical distancing, and wearing masks.”
The third pillar pertains to COVID-19
vaccines.
“I think we did a good job; we reached our goal for the first of July, which is
very, very, good,” said the epidemiologist, noting that Jordan has administered
over 2.5 million doses. “And we need to continue.”
Nsour also lauded new policies such as the provisions of COVID-19 vaccines at specified health
centers to those over the age of 40 without an appointment to get
vaccinated. He also recommended that the country open up vaccine centers on
Friday, which allows “people who don’t have time during the week to go and take
the vaccines.”
“It’s obvious that still the authorized
vaccines respond to” the Delta variant, said Nsour. “All evidence shows that
the vaccines are still valid. But some studies showed that they are less
effective than (against) the others, like the Alpha or other variants.”
“The main thing here with Delta is that we
encourage all to take the two doses. Evidence shows that maybe one dose is not
enough, so we need to make sure that we are encouraging all to take their second
dose” to prevent transmission of the variant, he added.
What is
the Delta variant?
The Delta variant was originally identified in
India, where it was partially credited as the cause of the country’s
devastating wave of the pandemic.
Delta was the fourth ‘variant of concern’ identified by the World Health Organization (WHO). The variant has been found to be more transmissible than other variations of
the virus and requires a higher number of antibodies in the blood to be
combatted.
A WHO official told the press last week that the variant is on
course to become the ‘dominant variant’ of COVID-19; it has now been identified
in 96 countries.
However, the WHO has noted that the existing
COVID-19 vaccines have proved successful in fighting the variant. In countries
with high levels of the Delta variant, people who are fully vaccinated are much
less likely to end up in the hospitals than those who are not.
In June, the government of India also
identified a new mutation in the Delta variant dubbed “Delta plus.” There is
little data to date about the transmissibility of this variation and its
reaction to vaccines.
“As the virus spreads widely and
transmissibility is high, we expect to see mutations,” said Nsour.
The new
normal
The Delta variant’s hurried spread has seemed
to dash hopes that the pandemic was coming to an end. Nsour argued that we need
to adjust our expectations of what the ‘end’ of the pandemic even means.
“I think we have a new normal,” he said. “And
a new definition of normal.”
He suggested that perhaps COVID-19 will
“become like seasonal influenza, annual or biannual.” However, “I think it’s
still too early to talk about this,” he said. “We have to wait to see.”
Nsour pointed out that while the vaccine is a
crucial tool in the fight against COVID-19, “it could be that the vaccine is
not enough.” This does not mean that the vaccines are not effective - but
rather that they are most effective when paired with precautionary measures,
like wearing masks and avoiding large gatherings, “especially with the latest
openings in the country.”
Above all, he emphasized that vaccination is
the most important way Jordanians can fight the Delta variant and the pandemic
at large.
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