WHO added 2 new sub-variants of Omicron to the watch list
Laboratory staff are working to sequence the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – Photo: CBC News
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on April 11 that it was monitoring a number of infections with two new sub-variants of the fast-spreading variant of Omicron to see if these sub-variants were contagious. spread or more dangerous or not.
Specifically, WHO has added BA.4 and BA.5, variants “same age” with the original subvariant BA.1 of Omicron to the list of variants to monitor. WHO has tracked subvariants BA.1 and BA.2, which currently account for the number of new COVID-19 cases globally, as well as subvariants BA.1.1 and BA.3.
The WHO said it has begun monitoring these subvariants because “these new mutations need to be studied further to understand their impact on immune evasion”.
All viruses change over time. However, there are only a few variants that affect the ability to spread or evade immunity acquired through vaccination or infection, or the severity of disease caused by these subvariants. .
For example, the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron (also known as the “stealth” Omicron variant) currently accounts for nearly 94% of all sequencing cases. This variant is more contagious than other minor variants, but the evidence to date suggests that BA.2 is unlikely to make the disease worse.
According to WHO, only a few cases of infection with sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 have been reported to WHO’s GISAID global database. The UK Health Security Agency said last week that the BA.4 sub-variant had been detected in South Africa, Denmark, Botswana, Scotland and England between January 10 and March 30.
Meanwhile, all BA.5 sub-variant infections were detected in South Africa until last week.
Botswana Ministry of Health announced on April 11 that the country has detected 4 cases of infection with sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 in people aged 30-50 years old and fully vaccinated, showing physical symptoms. light.
Japan detected the first case of infection with new variant XE
On April 11, the Japanese Ministry of Health announced that the first new case of infection with a new variant named XE in the country was a woman from the US who arrived at Narita airport on March 26.
VEHICLE variant is a recombinant variant between two sub-variants BA.1 and BA.2 of the Omicron line. Thailand was the first country in Southeast Asia to report the XE variant, with the suspected case identified on 2-4. Followed by cases recorded in India on April 6 and April 9.
According to preliminary research results compiled by the World Health Organization, XE was first detected in the UK on January 19, and more than 600 samples of genetic sequence analysis were confirmed to be XE variants.
Estimates from the early days show that XE has a growth rate of infection in the community about 10% higher than BA.2’s. However, this needs more time and research to confirm.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: tuoitre.vn – Read the original article here
