The two variants of the highly contagious Covid-19 strain have been identified in Botswana, South Africa, Germany and Denmark, among other countries, the WHO technical director for Covid-19 Maria Van Kerkhove said on Thursday. BA.4 and BA.5 do not appear to be more contagious or deadly than the original micron mutation so far, but that could change as more cases are detected, he added. Van Kerkhove stressed the need to maintain “robust” genome surveillance systems that would allow countries to monitor and analyze both variants as well as previous versions of the omicron. “It’s still early. What we need to make sure is that we will continue to have the ability to monitor, share and analyze, so that we can answer questions like this,” Van Kerkhove told a WHO briefing. . which was broadcast live on the organization’s social media platforms. Her remarks come days after the WHO said it was monitoring a few dozen cases of BA.4 and BA.5, in addition to previous omicron variants such as BA.1, BA.2, BA.3 and BA.1.1.
New wave of cases
It also comes as the most contagious BA.2 variant evolves in many parts of the world, fueling a new wave of Covid cases following the unprecedented rise caused by the original Omicron variant, BA.1, during the winter. BA.2 is now the world leader. In the US, it accounts for about 85% of all new cases and is even more prevalent in the northeastern part of the country, where it accounts for about 92% of new cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The oldest BA.4 sample was collected in South Africa on January 10, but data show that “genome accumulation” and geographical spread of the sub-variable are more recent, according to a report by the UK Health Insurance Agency released last year. week. As of April 8, South Africa had reported 41 cases of BA.4, Denmark reported three cases, Botswana reported two and England, as well as Scotland, reported one. “Although the total number of genomes is small, the apparent geographical distribution suggests that the variant is transmitted successfully,” the UK Department of Health said in a statement. The report also reported that there were 27 reported BA.5 sequences as of April 8, all of which were reported in South Africa between 25 February and 25 March. But Botswana’s health ministry said Monday that it had identified both BA.4 and BA. 5 cases among fully vaccinated people aged 30 to 50 years, Reuters reported. The WHO has begun monitoring BA.4 and BA.5 because they have new mutations “that need to be further studied to understand their impact on the immune’s escape potential”, according to Reuters. Both subtypes have additional mutations in the spike region, part of the virus used to invade human cells, and unique mutations outside that region, according to a WHO report released Wednesday. Such mutations are associated with “potential immune escape characteristics,” the report said.
EVs sub-variant
Another Omicron sub-variable that scientists say, XE is also available at low levels in some countries. XE is a “recombinant” variant that occurs when someone is infected with more than one strain that is then combined into a new variant. In the case of XE, it is a combination of the original omicron strain BA.1 and the newer BA.2, according to Van Kerkhove. “We have not seen a change in severity,” he said, meaning it is no more deadly than previous executives. The UK Department of Health report, however, stated that recent data suggest that XE may be more contagious. However, he noted that the estimate did not remain consistent as new data were added, which means that “it can not yet be interpreted as an estimate of the growth advantage for recombination”. The earliest confirmed XE case has a sample date of January 19 and has been detected in the United Kingdom, Thailand, India, Israel and most recently Japan. The US has not yet reported a case of the subvariable. The cases of the new executive have almost doubled in Britain, according to the latest data from the United Kingdom Health Insurance Agency. About 1,125 XE cases have been identified as of April 5, up from 637 cases on March 25. CNBC’s Spencer Kimball and Karen Gilchrist contributed to this report.