Experts urge more testing as new COVID-19 variant emerges
The World Health Organization is advising countries throughout the world not to abandon their surveillance mechanisms in the face of another COVID-19’variant of interest. According to the health organization, the new variety EG5 is a mutation of Omicron with identical symptoms.
The World Health Organization announced a new variant of interest following the results of seven thousand sequencing.
The mutation is known as EG5, and it causes symptoms similar to Omicron. EG.5 is a subvariant of the virus’s descendant lineage of XBB.
It’s been discovered in 51 nations so far, but the WHO believes that’s because these countries are more vigilant in testing for the virus.
The variant has been recorded in China, Korea, Japan, and Canada, among other places, although Maria Van Kerkhove, a member of the WHO’s expert panel, cautioned that the statistics should be taken with caution.
She went on to say that with only half of the world testing for the virus, it’s logical that the virus’s transmission is significantly more widespread than the testing indicates.
Kerkhove also advised against forming inferences about the virus’s origin.
“I believe the notion that variants can emerge from one country or another is false, and it’s dangerous because you think the problem is somewhere else,” she said.
“The virus is circulating so widely right now that it has evolved.”
Kerkhove went on to say that EG5 was responsible for 17.4% of positive test sequences.
“While this is not a dominant variant worldwide, we classify it as a variant of interest because it has a faster growth rate and we anticipate that detection will increase around the world,” she explained.
“However, surveillance and sequencing remain severely limited.” As a result, it’s impossible for us to say what’s going around.”
EG5 has been identified as being of interest due to its high transmissibility. The WHO also stated that the virus was not as seasonal as in previous years.
Extreme summer heat means that more people will seek sanctuary in their houses throughout the Northern Hemisphere summer.
