AMMAN — Former minister of health
Walid Maani has staunchly ruled out the idea that the
Omicron variant mutated in
Jordan, fervently claiming that such a notion is almost “a scientific
impossibility”.
اضافة اعلان
He told
Jordan News that “the Omicron
variant has 32 mutations in the spike protein, in addition to some 10 other
mutations in the receptor binding domain. So, it’s impossible that a virus in a
patient in Jordan mutated to produce the exact same mutations as the one in
South Africa”.
Spokesperson for the National
Epidemiological Committee Muhannad Nsour confidently agreed with Maani’s
assertions. “I agree with Dr Maani’s viewpoint. This is almost impossible. Just
imagine the variant mutating nearly 37 times, the same way it did in South
Africa. This is very rare.”
Nsour explained that it would be understandable
had the virus mutated one or twice, but the high number of mutations of the
Omicron variant makes it highly unlikely that it mutated in Jordan. “This is
why we really need to investigate further into this matter, especially through
contact tracing, to gain more clarity on the true source of the infection.”
Nsour alluded to a recent study by the
UK Health Security Agency, published on Saturday, which stressed that the first
two doses of the vaccine are most likely not going to be enough to effectively
combat Omicron. Experts are claiming that the third dose will be needed, as
with that third dose, the efficiency of the vaccines will reach 70–75 percent.
Jordan is collectively moving towards the
trajectory of modifying the meaning of “fully vaccinated” to mean having taken three
vaccine doses, instead of two doses, Nsour noted. “It’s very important that we
encourage people to take the third dose. Nearly 35–40 percent of people in
Jordan still have not taken even the first dose, so we still have some work to
do.”
A member of the National Epidemiological
Committee who declined to be named assured
Jordan News that the claims about
Omicron mutating in Jordan have absolutely not been made by the committee,
despite the circulation of some false reports stating this.
Secretary-General of the
Ministry of Health for Epidemiological Affairs Raed Shboul publically stated that there is
“currently no intention to announce any form of lockdown” in upcoming weeks.
The Health Ministry statistics reveal
that, since the beginning of the pandemic, the average age of deaths related to
COVID-19 in Jordan is between 60 and 71 years old.
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