Covid-19: Infections climb globally as EG.5 variant gains ground

The spike mutations of the EG.5 variant—dubbed “eris”—improve its immune escape abilities, experts have said, and probably account for recent modest increases in hospital admissions in Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the UK, and the US. The omicron EG.5 variant “has shown increased prevalence, grow...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBMJ (Online) Vol. 382; pp. p1900 - 1900
Main Author Dyer, Owen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London BMJ Publishing Group LTD 16.08.2023
Subjects
COVID-19
COVID-19 vaccines
Disease control
Disease transmission
Genomes
Infections
Mutation
Pandemics
Patient admissions
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Viruses
New Zealand
South Korea
United Kingdom > UK
United States > US
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Summary:The spike mutations of the EG.5 variant—dubbed “eris”—improve its immune escape abilities, experts have said, and probably account for recent modest increases in hospital admissions in Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the UK, and the US. The omicron EG.5 variant “has shown increased prevalence, growth advantage, and immune escape properties,” according to the most recent risk analysis by the World Health Organization, but “there have been no reported changes in disease severity to date.” The UK Health Security Agency estimated that EG.5 and its subvariants accounted for 14.6% of infections as August began in the UK (95% confidence interval 9.1 to 22.4).5 Small waves Covid hospital admissions in the US are up 40% from the lows seen in June, and covid admissions in England rose 76% from 21 July to 4 August.
Bibliography:SourceType-Other Sources-1
ObjectType-News-1
content type line 66
ISSN:1756-1833
1756-1833
DOI:10.1136/bmj.p1900