The Ministry of Health explained in whom the new FLiRT strain does not cause severe forms of the disease
Kyiv • UNN
The Deputy Minister of Health said that the new FLiRT sub-variant of the coronavirus does not cause severe disease in vaccinated individuals. Five cases of the new strain have been reported in Ukraine.
The new sub-variant of the Omicron coronavirus, FLiRT, does not cause severe disease in people who have been vaccinated or have been revaccinated when it is indicated. This was announced by Deputy Minister of Health, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Igor Kuzin during a briefing, according to a UNN correspondent .
We are now seeing a significant increase in the incidence of COVID in the European Union and the United States. The same situation is observed in Ukraine: if in July we had a little more than 11 thousand cases, then in June we saw 2 thousand cases, so we see a significant increase in July
Kuzin noted that the level of pressure on the hospital system in terms of hospitalization is not so high.
The level of burden on the hospital system in terms of hospitalization is not so high in percentage terms, because we see that there are just over 2.5 thousand inpatients, and this is absolutely normal for such a peak rise. Those countries that have reported an increase in the incidence, they have also identified that this is a new subtype of the Omicron strain - FLiRT
He reminded that five cases of the new sub-variant of the Omicron coronavirus, FLiRT, have already been recorded in Ukraine.
"We already have five positive samples based on the results of whole-genome sequencing. I want to remind you that this subspecies appeared in March this year. In many countries, it began to spread very quickly, but fortunately, it is all a mutation around one large Omicron group, and thus it is a subspecies that does not cause severe forms of the disease in people who are vaccinated or have revaccination when it is indicated," Kuzin said.
He also noted that the observed indicators do not yet indicate that the epidemic season has begun or that restrictive measures should be introduced.
Therefore, the indicators that we are currently seeing in Ukraine do not yet indicate that the epidemic season has begun, or that any specific restrictive measures need to be introduced in any specific areas. But indeed, the figures are quite high and not typical given that we usually started to see the first growth in September. Here, a little earlier, that is, one month earlier, we are already seeing growth
