Warning new variant of SARS-CoV-2 causes concern
Feb 04, 2023
Geneva [Switzerland], February 4: CNN reported that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) respectively announced that they were monitoring a new variant called "Orthrus" CH.1.1.
The new variant was first discovered in Southeast Asia last fall and currently world experts do not know much about it. However, the number of cases associated with this variant has been increasing sharply globally since November 2022, now accounting for more than 25% of infections in some parts of the UK and New Zealand, according to Fortune. Other hotspots include Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea (about 25% of cases), while Cambodia and Ireland have less than 20%.
CH.1.1 is a descendant of BA.2.75, the variant has been nicknamed "Centaurus", meaning it may possess a stronger ability to spread, bypass the immune barrier that comes from vaccination or previous disease. before. Not stopping there, scientists are concerned because CH.1.1 carries a mutation that appeared in the Delta variant that spread death around the world in 2021. This is a mutation that can make CH.1.1 challenging compared to the Omicron variant family.
In a report last week, a team of experts from Ohio State University (USA) warned that the protection that comes from the initial vaccinations is dwindling. They recommend accelerating the injection of the booster shot used to deal with Omicron. However, the scientists also said that the protection from this prompt will be weaker in the case of the new variant CH.1.1 than the sub-variants of Omicron, XBB and BQ.1.1. The US report found that CH.1.1 has a high resistance to vaccines based on mRNA technology.
Source: ThanhNien Newspaper
