Flight restrictions: the big goal to stop the Delta variant | Experts analyze the impact of the new measures and compare them with other countries

As much of the scientific community claimed, the Argentine government has added restrictions on entry by air into the country, to prevent the most contagious from arriving Delta variant of SarsCov2. The measure is not original: countries like New Zealand, Australia or Canada restrict income to their citizens, and in these the border with the United States is completely closed. In Great Britain, Australia, Germany, France, among others, they impose quarantines in hotels and multiple tests, in addition to marking “red lists” of countries with prohibited, reduced or specially controlled income. “It is a variant of very rapid expansion, and can spoil what has been achieved with vaccination and care. We’re in time to stop it. What has been done in the world is to control the borders, there is not much going back “, agree to say the experts consulted by Page 12.

The health basis of this measure was endorsed yesterday by the Minister of Health of Buenos Aires, Fernán Quirós, who agreed to reduce international travel: “who does not have an urgent need to travel, do not do it, every anyone who comes back can bring the Delta variant, ”he asked. The cry in the sky of partisan media opposition continued, at the same time, coordinated. What is less talked about is the pivotal moment that a world is going through which “changes photos” at high speed due to the adaptations of the virus.

“Britain has always had the ‘red list’ which indicates which travelers must undergo strict quarantine in a hotel, depending on where they come from. India entered this list on April 18, but it was too late. new variant had already entered and multiplied, and today they have 15,000 cases a day, although 75 percent of the population only receive one dose of the vaccine“, reviewed as an example Rodrigo Quiroga, researcher at Conicet and doctor in chemical sciences.

“Entering a more contagious variant changes the dynamics of the pandemic, you can have cases down, with a good vaccination rate, and the map changes.”

“In many countries, Delta cases are increasing exponentially, while other variants are decreasing. This is happening in the United States, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, despite the summer and despite the vaccination.” Argentina, in this photo, would have a certain advantage because in South America no Delta community contagion has yet been identified.

public order

Virologist and doctor in biochemistry Mario Lozano placeholder image, former rector of the University of Quilmes, is one of the signatories of the public letter of June 6, as well as many others such as Adrián Paenza, Alberto Kornblihtt, Andrea Gamarnik, Ernesto Resnik and Jorge Aliaga. There, they called on national authorities “to urgently implement strict controls on air passenger quarantines” in the face of the Delta threat.

“The exponential increase in cases will depend directly on the number of infected travelers entering the country”; “We have seen time and again how strategies that rely on calling for individual responsibility fail,” they said.

“What other countries have done is control the borders, there is not much going back,” says Lozano. “As the idiosyncrasies of his people permit.”

“New Zealand on one side, China on the other, to name just two successful cases. In China the control is very great. Those who arrive are accommodated in hotels for two weeks and checked by the security forces. If they are residents the second week they can do quarantine at home, but if the cohabitants leave. From this extreme downward control, all countries impose their standards. And all are ‘reinforced’ against the new variants, ”he describes.

“If when they traced the travelers they found that 40% were not at home, that means that is the minimum among those who do not comply.”

“There may be more than they were, by chance,” says Lozano. “It is impractical to appeal to the individual, let alone collective, responsibility of people who believe themselves above the rules.” This is why it considers that the control provided by the City of Buenos Aires (verification of isolation by telephone calls) is not favorable. It also demands increased control of the land borders and Uruguayan waters.

“Sure, hunchbacked and uncomfortable. But today the risk is too great to allow a variant that is more contagious than the previous ones to enter, without having completed the process of immunizing the population “, observes the virologist.

“The health care system can be saturated again, have infections above the values ​​we can handle, and therefore more deaths. You have to put everything in the balance. And we have to see how many are affected by these restrictions, and how things can be made easier for them, “he analyzes.

In this sense, the Director of Migration, Florence carignano, tuvo que aclarar ayer, entre otras cosas, que no hay “45,000 varados en el exterior”, que esa es la cifra de argentinos que declararon salir por turismo en los últimos cuatro meses, y that his 10 mil los que lo hicieron en la last week.

“Being out of the country doesn’t mean being blocked. There is a percentage of them who will have to reschedule their return according to the new arrangements and this could have a certain delay, but it is not at all a situation comparable to being failed, ”he assessed.

What are the variants

In the orbit of the Ministry of Science and Technology, it has been operating since last year Country project, with more than a hundred researchers from different institutions across the country, have focused on monitoring variants of the virus through genomic sequencing, including near real-time monitoring from what they call “Emergence of variants”.

Caroline Torres placeholder image, doctor in biochemistry, virologist and researcher at Conicet, member of Proyecto País, tells Page 12 how the evolution of the first variant, Alpha, which originated in the UK, happened in the country, which may well serve to project what could happen with the entry of an even more contagious strain like Delta.

“In December it was detected in a traveler from the UK, but it was a case that was contained. In January, there were more isolated detections among travelers. In February, there were cases of local acquisition, people who had not traveled or had been in. With the sum of several of these cases, the Department of Health determined that there was community transmission. It came to more than 30 percent in the city of Buenos AiresIt is a variant which is already more aggressive, and which generates a greater number of hospitalizations in therapy.

The Beta variant, which appeared in South Africa, has never reached community circulation in Argentina, it has only been detected in isolation in travelers, one recently. The Gamma or Manaus is the one that circulates the most in the country today and throughout South America.

“In Brazil, it is already dominant, it has completely replaced the viruses of the first wave. We started importing it in February, since then we have never stopped detecting it. Today we have the AMBA fairly distributed between Manaus and the Andean variant, with a 75 percent between the two, the rest is Alpha. Currently there are no more first wave viruses, a complete virus replacement has been performed“, describes the researcher.

The Delta variant is already predominant in countries like Great Britain, where it now causes more than 99% of infections, and is experiencing a worrying expansion in others like the United States, where it registers between 30 and 40 % of infections. Spain, Italy, Portugal and Singapore are countries where it is also making progress.

In Argentina, so far, there have only been two detections of Delta, both in travelers: in April, in a minor arrived from France, and this month, an adult from the United States.