As virus variants pose a new threat to humanity shaken by the coronavirus pandemic, the scientific community and governments around the world are planning the next steps to handle the emerging crisis. In Turkey, where 196 cases of the U.K., Brazil and South Africa variants were reported, doctors warn that the variants may increase hospitalizations and fatalities.
Four medical societies issued a joint statement recently and called for necessary measures to curb the potential rise stemming from variants. Among their recommendations are restricting intercity travel in provinces with variants unless necessary and pursuing a gradual approach to the planned lifting of restrictions.
The country saw a surge in COVID-19 cases on Thursday and currently relies on a mass vaccination drive that started last month and hardworking contact-tracing crews in the field to detect any contact with positive patients, in this now-expanded battlefield against the virus. Achieving mass immunity is one way to curb both the current virus and its variants, but experts say that it will still take a long time.
The statement by the Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, the Society for Clinical Microbiologists of Turkey, the Turkish Society of Microbiology and the Association of Public Health Specialists point out the lurking danger that accelerates infections. It highlights that more variants can be prevented only by breaking the chain of infection. The more infections that spread, the more they tend to mutate. Along with vaccinations and restrictions, actively tracking down the variant cases are among the effective measures recommended. The associations said that “a genomic surveillance network” can help to achieve this. Genomic surveillance is sequencing the genomes of the virus and sharing it through databases on the virus, helping health care professionals to easily detect any changes in any given location where cases are reported.
Experts also recommend boosting the testing capacity of laboratories and upgrading health care infrastructure to respond to variants. Otherwise, daily cases can return to “10,000s and even 100,000s,” the statement warns.
