Delta strain of coronavirus confirmed in Montenegro: It is easier to transmit, it is more resistant to vaccines...

"After last week's visit by the expert team of the "Robert Koh" Institute from Berlin, when staff training was carried out at the IJZCG to carry out genome sequencing, the existence of the delta strain of the coronavirus was preliminarily established.

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The presence of the delta strain of the coronavirus has been confirmed in Montenegro, the Institute for Public Health of Montenegro (IJZCG) announced today.

IJZCG announced that, in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), they monitored the situation regarding the delta strain of SARS-CoV-2 and, in addition to the existing strategy, defined a number of key activities and levels of preparedness for critical variants of SARS-CoV-2, in accordance with WHO recommendations in case of increased transmission of this virus in countries across Europe.

"In Montenegro, the presence of the delta (B.1.617.2) strain of SARS-CoV-2 has been confirmed. After last week's visit by the expert team of the "Robert Koh" Institute from Berlin, when staff training was carried out in the IJZCG to carry out genome sequencing, it was preliminarily determined the existence of the delta strain of the coronavirus. The suspicion was confirmed upon the arrival of the results from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC - European Center for Diseases Prevention and Control), to which samples were sent from Montenegro, as part of the "Program to assist the countries of the Western Balkans in sequencing the genomes of pathogens "", they pointed out from IJZCG.

The institution said that they had been expecting the detection of the delta strain in Montenegro for a long time and that they had warned the public about the possibility of its presence.

"Also, our epidemiologists indicated that the delta strain will absolutely follow the pattern of behavior as in all countries where it has been present for some time. Therefore, it will become dominant because it is very easily transmitted," the IJZCG press release says.

They also announced that the delta strain first appeared in India in October 2020, while in June 2021 in Great Britain, 90% of patients were infected with this strain. When it comes to the region, the delta strain was first registered in the Republic of Croatia on June 28, then in North Macedonia, then in Kosovo on June 29 and then in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia on July 1. in 2021.

"The difference compared to previous variants of the corona virus is that the delta strain is much easier to transmit, and therefore causes infection in a larger number of people. One person can infect five to eight other people. What is also important to emphasize is, that the delta strain shows a slightly higher resistance to vaccines compared to other strains. Let's remind citizens of the importance of vaccination, responsibility and compliance with measures, because that's the only way we can protect ourselves and others, says the IJZCG press release.