ALGIERS- The Director of the Pasteur Institute in Algeria (IPA), Fawzi Derrar, highlighted, today, Tuesday, May 04th, 2021, that the six cases of the Covid-19’s Indian strain, detected, Monday, in the province of Tipasa, are introduced by nationals from this country, working in the construction sector.
Speaking on the National Radio, Dr. Fawzi Derrar explained that an epidemiological investigation carried out by his institute made it possible to locate and contain the infectious focus in order to prevent the spread of the virus.
In addition, Dr. Fawzi Derrar reassured that the catastrophic epidemiological situation which India is currently experiencing will not have any consequences on the doses of vaccines ordered from this country and that they will be well received in the coming days.
Earlier, Pasteur Institute announced the detection for the first time of 06 cases of Indian strain (B.1.617), in Tipasa province.
In a statement, Pasteur Institute stated that this strain that was discovered in Algeria is of subtype 2 (sous-type 2), which contains differences compared to the hybrid mutation currently prevalent in India (absence of the E484K mutation).
Incidentally, Pasteur Institute stated that the World Health Organization has classified this strain as “a strain under observation “, whose ranking comes after the so-called “worrisome” strains, represented by the British, South African and Brazilian strains.
The institute’s communiqué also stated that “within the framework of genetic research related to monitoring mutated strains of SARS-CoV-2 that Pasteur Institute in Algeria is carrying out on samples received from various provinces, today, May 3, 2021, 37 new cases of the British strain were detected ( B.1.1.7) ‘.
These cases are divided as follows: “23 cases from Algiers, 05 cases from the province of Blida, 03 cases from the province of Bejaia, one case from the province of Constantine, one case from the province of Medea, one case from the province of Mila, and 03 cases from the province of M’sila,” indicating that the total number of confirmed cases from this strain, since the date of February 25, reached 180 cases.”
As for the Nigerian strain (B.1.525), the same press release clarified that “no new case was detected until the statement was released (genetic research is currently underway).”
In this light and in light of the emergence of these different strains, Pasteur Institute in Algeria calls on citizens to “adhere in the most strictest terms to the basic rules stipulated in the health protocol (wearing protective masks, physical distancing and frequent hand washing), which in these circumstances are the only guarantee to limit the spread of this virus and avoid registering more cases”.
ENTV
