Why has no case of the Delta variant been detected in Neuquén yet?

The epidemiological situation in the province shows a decrease in cases and deaths due to Covid-19 for several weeks, as well as a decrease in the number of people admitted to intensive care in hospitals and clinics. In addition to this favorable scenario, So far, no case of the Delta variant has been identified in the province.. However, specialists assure that cases are likely to be detected at some point with this variant characterized by its greater contagiousness and the most aggressive way in which it attacks the immune system.

The scientific adviser of Central Laboratory of Neuquén, Luis Pianciola, explained to LMNeuquén that the advance of the Delta variant in the country “It’s slower than expected based on what has happened in other places”. He stressed that the first cases were detected at the end of July, first in the autonomous city of Buenos Aires, then in other provinces such as Cordoba, where more than 190 cases with this variant have been recorded.

The specialist argued that “Most likely at some point I couldn’t say when, we’ll have Delta variant traffic in the province.”

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Between the Causes for which cases of the Delta variant were still not detected in Neuquén, he argued that one of them could be the percentage of the population that has completed immunization schedules. “Although we cannot reliably know, the vaccine decreases the circulation of the virus and the less it circulates, the less chance these mutations like Delta will appear,” he said. According to the report published Tuesday by the Ministry of Health, 55% of the population of the province has two doses of the vaccine against Covid-19; during that time, 70 percent received the first dose.

“The high percentage of cases of the Manaus variant detected in the province may have delayed the circulation of Delta,” said Luis Pianciola, scientific adviser at the Central Laboratory of Neuquén.

Another reason is that variant of Manaus, detected between 80 and 100 percent of cases thanks to the sequencing of the virus carried out by the Central Laboratory, “It could have delayed the circulation of the Delta variant.” However, he said that in Brazil “they had Manaus traffic before us and more than us and currently have Delta traffic over 75 percent of the time.”

He clarified that the most striking thing about the Delta variant, unlike the others, is its high contagion rate and how easy it is to spread. “It is not a variant that produces more severe cases than other pathologies, but rather it produces many more cases and with higher viral loads and which makes it easier to spread,” he pointed out. He added that “currently a good percentage of the population is vaccinated and this is what will allow us to have fewer cases that are progressing seriously. The scenario will not be with collapsed therapies but with a high consultation rate but no serious cases ”.

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Luis Pianciola: “Currently, a good percentage of the population is vaccinated and this will allow us to have fewer cases that are progressing seriously. The scenario will not be with collapsed therapies but with a high consultation rate but no serious cases ”.

The weak circulation of the virus in the province, which has been recorded for several weeks, is manifested in the demand for coronavirus tests carried out at the Central Laboratory. “We are currently doing between 200 and 300 daily PCR samples with less than 10 positive cases; very different from the 1,000 and 1,200 daily swabs that showed many positive cases that we took during the most complex months of the pandemic», Described Pianciola. “Today we are detecting less than 10 positive cases per day, the rest of the daily cases that are reported, around 20, are due to other detection strategies. But in our laboratory the situation is much more relaxed than it was in April or May, ”he concluded.