”The fourth wave of the pandemic, if there is one, should not be a cause for panic. We now have enough knowledge and experience in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). There would be no justification for welcoming him unprepared, neither for the health care system nor for the authorities, ” told Dragan Stevanovic, a doctor at the General Hospital ‘Prim. dr. Abdulah Nakas’ in Sarajevo.
When it comes to that health institution, Stevanovic stressed that a small number of patients with Covid-19 are currently hospitalized, but that all wards that received patients in the last outbreak of the disease are still ready.
While answering the question of how dangerous the new delta strain of coronavirus is, taking into account the scope of vaccination in our country, he said that a country such as Israel, which has a degree of the immunized population of about 70-80 percent, is now in a situation to record 250-300 new cases daily, in younger, unvaccinated people.
Stevanovic reminded that there are no records on the number of BiH citizens who received the Covid-19 vaccine, even though it would be very easy to obtain data from Serbia, where a large number of them have done it. Vaccinated citizens could also be invited to report it, but he thinks that this would require additional efforts by the authorities.
At the same time, as the Deputy Chairman of the City Council of the City of Sarajevo, Stevanovic also commented on the work that the Mayor of Sarajevo Benjamina Karic did so far. Although he pointed out that he does not agree with her in everything, he said that she has made few very good moves so far.
First of all, it refers to the fact that she “opened” the city, established a huge number of contacts with ambassadors, the European Commission, mayors of other cities in BiH, which is in favor of the legal continuity of Sarajevo as the capital, he believes.
Stevanovic stated that Mayor Karic had certain contacts regarding the procurement of vaccines, but he did not want to talk about it in detail.
It was confirmed that delta coronavirus strain was recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). A woman from Medjugorje tested positive for this new strain of coronavirus.
This was confirmed by Lana Salihefendic, Master of Genetics from the Alea Genetic Center in Sarajevo, where this new strain of corona was sequenced.
“The sample was taken on June 28th in Medjugorje and delivered from our partner laboratory Vitalis from Mostar. We immediately noticed that there are lines that differ from the British version so we did additional analyzes. There were six samples, so there is a chance that the delta the strain is found in another one of them, ” she noted.
The coronavirus delta strain was first discovered in India and has become a globally dominant variant of COVID-19 disease. This strain of coronavirus is considered to be more virulent and has not been shown to be more lethal.
When it comes to our region, it was first identified in Croatia on June 28th, then in Kosovo on June 29th.
The delta variant of the coronavirus could account for 90 percent of new cases in the European Union (EU) by the end of August, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
According to a Scottish study that was published in ”The Lancet” on June 14th, the delta strain is associated with an approximately double risk of hospitalization compared to the alpha variant. Symptoms of delta coronavirus strain include headache, sore throat, and runny nose.
