The high speed propagation of the Omicron variant raises fears of the worst. The whole world is experiencing an upsurge in positive cases of Covid-19, because of the new variant, pushing several governments to introduce restrictive measures to limit the damage.
Morocco has unfortunately not escaped this new epidemiological wave, despite the many preventive measures it has taken in advance. How to do it ? Will the new Omicron wave be more harmful than that of the Delta? What are we risking? Are vaccines effective?
These are all questions on which Dr Mourad Merabet, Coordinating Physician of the National Center for Public Health Emergency Operations at the Ministry of Health, addressed in a brief Linkedin post.
Thus, and since the detection of the first Omicron case in Morocco on December 15, the number of positive cases has increased by almost 50% last week, which confirms that Morocco is going through a wave of Community Transmission, alerted the specialist.
In a brief commentary on the epidemiological situation of SARS-CoV-2 infection as of December 26, Dr Merabet confirmed that the Kingdom is going through its third wave of CT, noting that the number of cases has seen the strongest change. weekly (almost 150%) compared to last week, while the RT is 1.42, he says. As for the weekly positivity rate, it increased according to the specialist to 3.1%.
Despite the low weekly incidence of Covidosis (<1 / 100,000 Hts), Dr Merabet indicates in his post that the number of severe cases has increased and that the two variants, currently in circulation, are Delta and Omicron. But the latter is probably likely to gain the upper hand, warns the specialist.
The 3rd wave will be faster and shorter than the Delta wave
After an analysis of the epidemiological indicators, Dr Merabet confirmed that the 3rd wave began in the Kingdom the week of December 13-19 and was confirmed this week of December 20-26 during which three regions went from low (green) to moderate level (orange).
Thus, and according to the epidemiological approach of the National Center for Public Health Emergency Operations based on experiences and observations in the field, Dr Merabet indicated that “the current wave will probably be faster and shorter than the DELTA wave” with a “probable duration of 11 weeks and a peak probably the week of January 17-23, 2022 (one week before or after, difficult to predict. the government)“, Specified the specialist.
Vaccination: The key to getting through this 3rd wave
The third epidemiological wave has unfortunately arrived in Morocco, laments Dr Merabet, who specifies that “we missed 6 weeks of inter-wave period to strengthen our immunity through vaccination“.
“We have also given all possible facilities to this miserable virus to spread, through the total lifting of all barriers (mask, distancing, hygiene) ”, supports the person in charge at the Ministry of Health.
But the goal today is to reduce the severity and mortality of the wave through several actions, says Dr Merabet.
It is first of all a matter of urgently resuming the barrier measures, to help reduce the spread of the virus and thus reduce the probability of it happening to subjects at risk of complications and death, he recommends, then increase our immunity through vaccination, “which is never too late “, to significantly reduce the risk of severe Covidosis, he says.
Finally, Dr Merabet strongly advises citizens to respect the therapeutic protocol in place and “to stop talking about flu, cold and windHe said.
“Think about COVID-19 first, test yourself, take full treatment, notify your contacts if you are positive“Advises the specialist who insists on citizen isolation for 10 days.
For him, “to go out knowing that we are sick and contaminated is a betrayal of our families, our friends, our relatives, our loved ones and our Morocco“. In this sense, he recommends “see the hospital urgently if there is any sign of worsening health condition“.
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