LONDON – New strains of Covid-19 are spreading around the globe, raising concerns amongst health experts a few possible surge in cases in the summertime, 4 and a half years after the pandemic began.
The FLiRT variants – whose name comes from the names of mutations within the variants' genetic code – are on the rise within the US and Europe because the coronavirus continues to mutate from previous strains.
The latest group is descended from the previously dominant JN.1 variant, an offshoot of Omicron. There is currently little evidence that the brand new strains are more serious, but they seem to have picked up the identical mutations independently. after to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, KP.2 is now the dominant strain within the United States. The burden was eliminated 28.2% of all cases within the two weeks ending May 11, up 3.8% in late March, shortly after the strain was first discovered.
Cases of KP.1.1, one other FLiRT variant, have also increased and currently account for 7.1% of infections, the agency said.
The variety of cases can also be increasing in Europe: the brand new variant has now been detected in 14 countries.
The World Health Organization in its latest update Earlier this month it was said that the variety of cases remained limited in all reporting countries. However, individual countries are recording “slight increases in detections from very low values”.
Last week, the British Health Safety Authority said It continues to watch data on the brand new variants within the UK and internationally, assessing their severity and the continued effectiveness of the vaccines. “There are currently no changes to general public health recommendations,” the agency said in an update.
It is currently unlikely that the brand new strains will cause a significant wave of infections like those seen up to now when public immunity was lower, said Jennifer Horney, a professor of epidemiology on the University of Delaware. However, she noted that the brand new strains would likely result in a surge in cases in the approaching summer months.
“Although our understanding of what a wave of COVID-19 infections looks like has changed over the course of the pandemic, it is likely that these new strains will lead to a surge in case numbers in the U.S. over the next few months,” said Horney told CNBC via email.
“Many will be mild, based on our existing immunity and not the changes in the circulating strain,” she said.
Nevertheless, health experts will closely monitor how effective current vaccines are against the brand new strains.
Next month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Vaccine Advisory Committee will meet to debate recommendations for the combo of variants for this winter's Covid-19 vaccine delay an earlier discussion to gather more data.
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