The risk of a new wave of a pandemic due to its new strains coronavirus emphasized by George Pavlakis.

As the doctor-researcher explained, although there are currently no concerns about China, in the future, new strains of the virus from the Asian country are possible. At the same time, a new mutation has been identified in North America that is even more contagious than Omicron.

“The danger will come from China”

Mr. Pavlakis noted that China may be of concern to all of us, since it opened its economy in the winter and the population does not have the immunity that other countries have acquired, but this danger still remains.

“We have new crises every day. It is not right to forget the pandemic so that governments prepare the public for what we have not finished yet. The situation in China will affect both health and the economy. There will be 1.5 million infections and a million deaths from the coronavirus, this will shock the Chinese society,” he told SKAI.

“China is estimated to have one and a half million infections and one million deaths from the coronavirus,” Mr Pavlakis said.

At the same time, he said that the Asian country may not be at this stage yet, but the preventive measures against the coronavirus must be implemented worldwide before it is too late. In particular, governments must show responsibility and implement travel restrictions before the virus spreads.

“It is not right to leave air travel completely free, there should be control, especially this winter. There will be a danger from China, we will have new strains,” the research doctor said, stressing that China may have vaccinated the vast majority of its population, but most received only two doses, and Chinese vaccines do not have the same effectiveness. .

New Strain for North America

Subsequently, Mr. Pavlakis noted that a new strain had already been discovered in America that was 20% more contagious than existing ones.

“When we see new leaders (we will move to new measures). The new version defeats the previous ones, it is superior to the vaccine in some ways, it is dangerous,” he said.

Finally, he said that the end of the pandemic should not be declared from time to time, and that masks should be used everywhere.

EU Crisis Response Mechanism to meet tomorrow

At the same time, an extraordinary meeting of the European Council Crisis Response Mechanism (IPCR) was convened by the Swedish EU Presidency. on Wednesday 4 January to find a “common approach” and “common European action” to resolve the situation.

The purpose of the discussion is to quickly agree on possible requirements for the entry of Chinese travelers into the EU and, more generally, what measures the countries’ common policies could include.

As for Greece, a common strategy with the EU. our country prefers not to impose measures on travelers from China for the time being, having the advantage of not having direct air links with that country.