The Minister of Health, Juan Carlos Zevallos, confirmed that a patient, in Los Ríos, who arrived in Ecuador from abroad, tested positive for the new variant of COVID-19, detected in the United Kingdom. The risk, he said, is that it is of higher transmissibility and not higher mortality.
The patient is a 50-year-old man who came from London on December 12 and entered the country with a negative PCR test. The minister announced the arrival of the passenger was before the United Kingdom announced the new variant and, once it was known, they contacted the patient.
There are 14 people who are in the epidemiological fence to analyze their evolution. The intervention of 655 houses was carried out, in 17 blocks and a total of 2.560 people are part of the medical control, after the detection of this new variant.
Zevallos explained that the case was verified at the National Institute for Public Health Research (INSPI) in Guayaquil. He clarified that it is a new variant, but it is part of the same strain. He mentioned that the variant has not been shown to be more deadly. The problem, he said, is having many more cases of contagion due to its high transmissibility and, although the percentage is small, more people will need hospital care.
For Zevallos, his concern is the internal situation of the country, due to the agglomerations registered in various provinces.
The Secretary of Communication, Caridad Vela, announced that the national Emergency Operations Committee (COE) will meet at 1:30 p.m. on Monday to analyze the measures to be adopted in the following days. “Without a state of exception, our hands are tied,” said Vela, calling on the municipal authorities to reinforce the measures in her territories.
She reiterated that it is not possible to return to a rigorous confinement, such as the first months of the pandemic in the country, because they cannot decree a new state of exception at the national level. What President Lenín Moreno can do is declare targeted states of emergency.
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