.png "Doctor Says Latest Covid-19 Strain BA.5 Is ‘Worst Version We’ve Seen So Far’")
One expert believes that the latest version of COVID-19 could see people getting sick with the virus for a longer period of time than previous strains.
US physician Dr. Eric Topol has described the BA.5 strain of the coronavirus as the ‘worst form we have ever seen’ and expressed concern over the extreme ‘immune evasion and transmission’ of the variant.
They said their research indicates that the BA.5 strain has a ‘superior ability to enter cells’ and is similar to the infectious delta strain of the Covid-19 virus, which causes severe symptoms and a higher rate of hospitalization. produces.
“The ability for Ba.5 to infect cells is more similar to Delta’s than the previous Omicron family,” Dr. Topol wrote in his newsletter Ground Truths.
Despite Dr. Topol’s concerns over the similarity of Ba.5 to the Delta strain, he said it was too early to tell whether the Ba.5 variant produced a more severe version of the disease.
He added that this is ‘still unclear, but possible given its delta-like cell infectious feature’.
He dismissed initial reports of the new BA.5 strain, believing it to be possible.
Australia’s Health Minister Mark Butler has warned Australians against becoming complacent when it comes to COVID-19, revealing that vaccinated people were ‘still susceptible’ to more aggressive forms of the disease.
According to News.com.au, he said, “They are more contagious than the earlier sub-variants that carried the summer wave, the BA.1 wave in January, and the BA.2 wave in April and May.” “
“What’s particularly unique and different around BA.4 and BA.5 is that they’re so good at warding off people’s immunity.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there has been a 30 percent increase in COVID-19 cases internationally in the past fortnight.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attributed the rise in cases to a decline in surveillance, testing and sequencing of the virus.
“Omicron’s sub-variants, such as ba.4 and ba.5, are driving the waves of cases, hospitalizations and deaths around the world,” he said at a press conference.
“Significant reductions in surveillance – including testing and sequencing – are making it increasingly difficult to assess the impact of variants on transmission, disease characteristics, and effectiveness of countermeasures.”
He also said that the fight against coronavirus is not close to over.
“The new waves of the virus again demonstrate that COVID-19 is nowhere to be found,” he said.
“As soon as the virus pushes us, we must back down.”