A new COVID variant is in circulation in the UK
Eris, a nickname for the EG.5.1 variant, has brought COVID back into the news. "COVID-19 case rates continued to increase this week compared to our previous report. 5.4% of 4,396 respiratory specimens reported through the Respiratory DataMart System were identified as COVID-19. This is compared to 3.7% of 4,403 from the previous report," the UK Health Security Agency (UKSHA) said in a report on Thursday. The variant, Eris or EG.5.1, is accountable for one in 7 cases in the UK, Daily Mail has reported quoting UKHSA bosses.
Eris comprises 11.8% of COVID cases in the UK
As per the data available on the UKSHA website, in the second week of July 11.8% of UK sequences had been classified as EG.5.1. "EG.5.1 was first raised as a signal in monitoring on 3 July 2023 as part of horizon scanning due to increasing reports internationally, particularly in Asia. It was subsequently raised from a signal in monitoring to a variant V-23JUL-01 on 31 July 2023 due to the increasing number of genomes in UK data, and continued growth internationally," UKSHA says.
WHO has listed EG.5 under the "variants under monitoring" list
"Although the public health emergency of international concern for COVID-19 was declared over on 5 May 2023, COVID-19 remains a major threat," the WHO says and is currently monitoring two variants of interest: XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16 and seven variants under monitoring (VUMs) and their descendent lineages; BA.2.75, CH.1.1, XBB, XBB.1.9.1, XBB.1.9.2, XBB.2.3 and EG.5. As per the latest report of the WHO, EG.5 has been found in 45 countries and a total of 4,722 sequences are found.
What is driving COVID cases in the UK?
The media report, citing experts, says that the release of the movies Barbie and Oppenheimer might have contributed to the rise in the number of cases. Bad weather and waning immunity are also said to be other reasons behind this surge.
COVID cases are also rising in the US
US CDC's COVID tracker has found a 10% increase in the rate of hospitalisation since December. "A total of 8,035 people have been hospitalized due to COVID in the US and this pattern is increasing since mid-June," the US CDC says. Bad weather is said to be main factor that is driving this case. Due to the heat, many people prefer to remain indoors where there is no air circulation and such an environment gives the right condition to respiratory viruses to survive.
Is there any difference in the symptoms?
So far, no major change in the nature of the symptoms of COVID seen in earlier waves has come to the fore. In view of the rising COVID cases, health authorities of the countries where the cases are surging have advised people to have a COVID test immediately after symptoms like headache, fever or runny nose is seen. "We continue to see a rise in COVID-19 cases in this week’s report. We have also seen a small rise in hospital admission rates in most age groups, particularly among the elderly. Overall levels of admission still remain extremely low and we are not currently seeing a similar increase in ICU admissions. We will continue to monitor these rates closely," Dr. Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.
Precautionary steps to follow
Keeping hands clean, avoiding touching exposed surfaces, avoiding crowded places if not necessary, keeping indoor air ventilated and staying in isolation when the symptoms show are some of the precautionary steps one needs to follow.
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