“Perro del infierno” and “Pesadilla”, two new strains of Covid registered in Chile, which threaten the summer.

Chile is going through a new phase of the coronavirus pandemic, in a completely different context than the one that prevailed a few months ago. In early October, the use of the face mask was banned in closed spaces – except for people attending medical facilities – and health ministry authorities said the measure was aimed at advancing “greater freedoms” and managing the pandemic. “Proportional to current risk”.

Today, the country’s streets show a complete return to normality, and masks are increasingly less visible in other potentially risky places, such as public transport or in areas where there are crowds of people. Chile was one of the last countries in the region to abolish this provision. But today this situation may change again due to the increase of cases and the increase of positive PCR tests.

“We had Quite a significant increase, but we continue to continuously review what happens in hospitalizations and critical care bed utilization. Based on this, we decide which phase of the step-by-step plan we are in. Now we are in the opening phase, but This does not mean that if the situation changes, we can return– said the Minister of Health of Chile, Ximena Aguilera.

“The pandemic is not over and we have to learn to live with the virus. The call for people is to vaccinate because the vaccine has a strain that’s going around the world.”added the official.

In a report this Thursday, the ministry said that in the previous 24 hours, Chile had registered 5846 cases of covid-19 across the country and the positivity rate is 15.11%. In addition, 57 people died of coronavirus, which is the highest rate in 84 days. More than 6,230 deaths from the disease have been reported in the country since the pandemic began.

“After the big wave of Delta and Omicron variants that we had, we experienced a drop in cases at the end of September. The problem is that now we had an action And that this is related to the new directive, according to which the wearing of masks in public spaces was no longer mandatory. However, the growth has been more or less stable and we are not currently experiencing a dramatic increase. You should be prepared, but not anxious. The virus mutates and tends to evade protection, but this is not associated with an increase in mortality,” Dr. Catia Abarca, an infectious disease specialist at the UC Christus Health Network, told LA NACION.

new strains

Exactly, one of the most critical points is related The spread of different strains of the virus that have received transmission. “And that they have such ugly names,” Adds Dr. Abarca regarding the two Omicron subvariants that have shown rapid transmission in European countries and the United States: BQ.1 and XBB, christened on social networks with both sui generis and bombastic terms: “hell” i “Nightmare”.

In case “hell” These are two sub-variants of the Ómicron BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, which have been around the world for a few months now. The nickname is derived from Cerberus, from the Greek Kérberos, meaning “demon of the pit”, indicating that it is a hellhound. It is a demon with several heads – usually three – and a serpent’s tail.

In the meantime and in that case too “nightmare”, which experts call XXB, is a recombinant variant of the BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 sublines, which did not make significant waves, as did others such as Delta and Omicron at the time. It is believed to be a variant that has been on the decline since October, but has also been responsible for a surge in coronavirus cases in countries such as Singapore and India.

“There is omicron subvariants that had minor changes, but they won’t become a new option,” said infectious disease expert Katya Abarka, who insisted on the importance of vaccines in preventing more serious cases or potential death. “In Chile, we’ve done well in that regard in fighting them, and our vaccination plan has worked very well.”

As for the debate about the return of the navel, It is not yet clear that it will be implemented, and everything depends on the rise of infections and the collapse of the health system due to the spread of other respiratory diseases.

“If the advisory committee of the Ministry of Respiratory Diseases, or the minister himself, believes that you should wear a mask next year, you should do it. The mask has shown that it protects not only against the coronavirus, but also against influenza, parainfluenza, respiratory syncytial virus and even some bacteria such as meningococci,” former health minister Enrique Paris said at an event yesterday. University of San Sebastian.