Epidemiologist who predicted pandemic warns of new wave of coronavirus

After a year of efforts to control the virus that has claimed more than 2.5 million lives worldwide, the epidemiologist who anticipated the pandemic, Michael Osterholm, said that although at this time the coronavirus is under control, a new wave as or more destructive than the first, triggered by the new strains, especially British, could occur in March of this year.

Osterholm is Professor and Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and also Advisor to the President of the United States, Joe biden.

In an interview he gave to MPR News, Osterholm said that the pandemic will become more acute and there will be a increase in coronavirus cases in the next two months in the United States and other countries around the world, triggered mainly by the United Kingdom variant.

In addition, he pointed out that “COVID vaccines are safe” and that there is no reason to believe that they could cause long-term side effects, but despite the slow progress of vaccination plans, the new wave will come “Beginning or mid-March” and “most likely it will exceed what we saw in January.”

In addition, the epidemiologist compared the new outbreak to the destructive power of a “Category 5” It could affect several countries around the world.

Para Osterholm, the nueva cepa that originated in Inglaterra will be responsible for the nueva ola, there are between a 30 and a 70% más contagiosa y ha sido la causante de un aumento en los diagnósticos, en las hospitalizaciones y en las muertes for Covid-19.

Fortunately, he pointed out that the new British variant can be countered with the coronavirus vaccine portfolio, which is why he asked authorities in all countries “Speed ​​up vaccination campaigns.”

THE NATION

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