Understand what the new look looks like freaking everyone out

• The Financial Times has released the chart

• Information about the new strain is still scarce

• The replacement was found 2 weeks ago in South Africa

The world was scared last Friday (26th) with the explosion of cases of the new variant of COVID-19, known as Micron. A graph published by the Financial Times in the United States, quickly spread on the Internet and frightened many people by showing the progression and transmission curve of this strain much larger than its predecessors. But what does this graph really show?

The North American Journal comparison takes into account the percentage of prevalence of the new variant among cases that, after testing, undergo genetic sequencing. It was the restriction of flights from African countries that were adopted in many countries in the West that made the chart go viral.

At the moment, there are few sufficient conclusions about this new strain. What is known so far that helps explain the reading of the graph is that it shows that the rate of transmission of this variant is faster, but it refers exclusively to South Africa, a country with a low vaccination rate – about 24%, according to official figures.

The big “secret” of the rising upward curve that worries everyone at this point: a lack of vaccination. This difference worries experts around the world, but the lack of detail still causes many experts to be cautious when commenting on what measures might or might be taken against Ômicron.

What cannot be said is that the curve shown in the respective graph will be replicated in other countries. Brazil, for example, has a full-system vaccination rate already of 60.4%, which is much higher than that of South Africa.

It is expected that the resistance of the new strain to the vaccines will be tested in the coming days. This will be a crucial point for knowing its development and, basically, what the real danger it represents.

According to the World Health Organization, the new variant is the most ‘important’ so far discovered and has a high reproducibility. It was originally discovered in South Africa a couple of weeks ago and is already circulating in some countries around the world. Anfisa recommended that Brazil impose restrictions on flights to six African countries.