The New Variant of COVID-19: BA.2.86
A new version of COVID-19 is spreading in many countries. It is called BA.2.86, international health official is following it. WHO (World health organization) has said that it is found in many countries such as Britain, United States, Denmark, South Africa and Israel.
Director General of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has spoken about development of COVID-19. The variant show that it is present in the world; Tedros says that the latest data show lower cases of COVID-19. Although, there is also report of increasing cases of COVID-19 and hospitalization.
Maria Van Kerkhove ( WHO’s Health Emergencies Program) says 10 cases of the BA.2.86 variant are found worldwide. She has also added that officials are worried, because the variant has appeared to show 30 genetic mutation.
She says WHO is trying to follow the movements virus variants. Efforts are included taking wastewater samples from cities where COVID-19 cases are spreading. This method helps officials to learn the variants spreading and how serious the case is. Officials say BA.2.86 breaks off from the Omicron variant, which spreads in US and also has discovered in Denmark on July 24.
Some international scientists say that it is very crucial to keep following BA.2.86. The variant may cause a new, harmful wave of infections in the world. Much population build up defenses mechanism against COVID-19 due to vaccinations or infection.
International scientists are testing newly created COVID-19 vaccines will work against BA.2.86 are not. Van Kerkhove has noted that in the past; vaccines is better to prevent severe sickness and death; blocking re-infections. United States health officials have said that this month, the latest COVID-19 vaccines set to be released in September.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has completed a risk report on the new variant last week. The report has said BA.2.86 may be capable of causing infection in vaccinated people: those who had COVID-19 before. Although, officials have noted there is so far no evidence that the new variant is causing more severe sickness than earlier ones.
The WHO said COVID-19 testing drops by 90 percent worldwide from the highest point of the pandemic. Testing rates also falls sharply in the United States. Genetic sequencing is down by around 90 percent by Dr. Ashish Jha. He has served as the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator until June 2023.
Jha says data from hospital stays, emergency room visits, wastewater testing, deaths and sequencing efforts had given health officials to improve information about current variant spread.