Corona has been in the Netherlands for two years, ‘mutations will continue for a while’
Corona will be exactly two years in the Netherlands tomorrow. The coronavirus, which was first found on February 27, 2020, will continue to mutate for a while. Do you want cases like that now, experts say today.
Apart from corona, other viruses can also emerge, says Groningen virologist Bert Niesters. “That always goes on. You have to learn to live with it.”
Exactly two years ago, the first infection with SARS-CoV-2 in the Netherlands became known. A man from Loon op Zand in Brabant was admitted to hospital in Tilburg. It later turned out that other people in our country had contracted the virus before. It spread unseen, including during carnival celebrations in the south of the country. Bruno Bruins, then Minister of Medical Care, read the message about corona in the Netherlands from a note that he received live on TV. People immediately thought of that as something.
A grand plan. This patient was already known to the RIVM and the minister on Wednesday. It’s completely crazy that it’s staged like this! #corona #rivm The note for Bruno Bruins: staged by complete surprise?
https://t.co/EmJiH3d5Iv— IamJ (@jeroen_datbenik) February 28, 2020
Many people got corona, mutations followed
More than 6 million positive corona tests followed. In the course of the pandemic, the variants followed one another, with the more successive types of steed gaining the upper hand. In the first instances, the variants were still documents to the countries where they were first found. Later, the World Health Organization (WHO) about Greek letters. Especially the delta variant: that created many people became very ill.
There was great relief when it became clear that the omikron variant that followed delta was a lot milder. However, it is unlikely that the next variant will also be easy for connoisseurs.
New corona mutations: ‘Watching coffee thick’
Whether a next variant will make our life as miserable as delta “is really looking at coffee grounds”, says Niesters. Virologist Ab Osterhaus also does not dare to predict exactly how this corona virus will develop. “In general, if viruses circulate faster, they are more in the upper respiratory tract,” he explains. However, exceptions are also possible, because some viruses are located both in the lungs and in the upper top.
How long will be locked up after infection: ‘Infection is already so widespread, what can quarantine still contribute?’ https://t.co/RcNZHw7qaz‘Infection-already-spread-what-can-quarantine-contribute’-27467085.html
— Bert Niesters (@bertniesters) February 9, 2022
Corona could develop into a winter cold virus, says Osterhaus. These types of viruses can also vary in severity. According to him, fewer scenarios are also conceivable.
The flu virus also changes, from mild to aggressive
Niesters continues to find it important to vaccinate as many people as possible against corona worldwide. Also to keep the elderly and vulnerable out of the wind. “But I think they already do that themselves.”
New variants will continue to come and go. The emergence of the next subtype is not a reason ‘to immediately start acting dramatic’, thinks. He points out that influenza, the flu virus, also changes again and is sometimes aggressive, sometimes mild. “One year you have a thousand dead, the next eight or nine thousand.”
In the meantime, the pandemic has made us much wiser, says the Groningen virus expert. “Because the whole world is now researching this coronavirus, we are also learning a lot about other coronaviruses.”
The Metro panel on the statement: ‘It is irresponsible to celebrate carnival’
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Corona has been in the Netherlands for two years, ‘mutations will continue for a while’