Invited last night to Real Story on News 24, the director of the National Emergency, Skënder Brataj spoke at length about the deteriorating situation instead of Covid-19.
"The situation has deteriorated. The end-of-year holidays, the drop in temperatures, the shifts from one place to another during that period, have all affected. "to take off your clothes for fear of being infected. It is direct contact." - said Brataj.
Given the epidemiological situation of our country and neighboring countries, questions are raised whether in Albania have been confirmed cases of new variants, generally more transmitted to the population.
"It is not necessary not to have entered. We have said it again, as far as I know Albania has the capacity to distinguish a case that no longer corresponds to the usual strain of the virus, but to be confirmed through agreements with the authorities with Berlin and London.The chance that the new variant has entered the country is high, seeing that in such a short time there is a boom of infections.However we have to wait until the answers come to speak with certainty that we believe will be published. "
A few days ago, Kosovo confirmed the first 3 cases of infections with the coronavirus variant of the United Kingdom, North Macedonia as well, while Greece has confirmed the presence of the South African variant.
Britain was one of the first countries to identify a Covid variant that spreads faster. One of the changes that made this variant stand out was a mutation known as N501Y, which affects the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the "spike" protein - the point where the virus binds to a cell. "This mutation, at least in a laboratory setting, allows the protein to bind more strongly to proteins on the cell surfaces that are targeted," said Dr. Eleanor Gaunt from the University of Edinburgh.
