The Institute of Public Health (IPH) in Albania, as in many other countries, does not have the capacity to detect other variants of Covid-19.
"Other samples are being prepared to be sent to the Charite Institute of Virology in Berlin and of course this is a work that will continue; In addition to the work of the laboratory with PCR, work will continue on the continuous sending of samples in connection with the identification of all new variants, not only the British variant, but of any new variant, so that these mutations are caught in time, ” said for Euronews Albania the head of epidemiology at IPH, Silva Bino.
Contacted by Euronews, in the official response, the IPH said that at least 50 people are suspected of being affected by one of the new variants of Covid.
"From the data and epidemiological assessments, as well as from the data from the network of Covid-19 laboratories, we think that new variants of Covid-19 may be present in our country," read the response to Euronews.
At the beginning of the month, the General Director of the National Medical Emergency Center, Dr. Skënder Brataj, in an interview for Real Story said that new variants of Covid may be present in Albania.
Britain was one of the first countries to identify the fastest-passing variant of Covid. 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.
Health authorities in South Africa said on December 18 that a variant of the coronavirus was spreading rapidly in three provinces and was causing concern. They called it 501Y.V2 and found that it was contributing to the growth of infections.
Viruses are more likely to be transmitted as they infect more people, but experts have said that SARS-CoV-2 has been slower to change. To date, 4 new most widespread variants have been discovered, that of the United Kingdom , South Africa , Brazil and California .
Vaccine manufacturers are already working on adapting vaccines to mutations as well.
