A woman wears a mask to protect against Covid-19 in London, England, April 7, 2024.
Mike Camp | In Pictures | Getty Images
LONDON – The Covid-19 strain is spreading around the world, raising concerns among health professionals that there could be a surge in cases over the summer, four and a half years since the pandemic began.
As the coronavirus continues to mutate from earlier strains, FLiRT variants, whose tags are derived from the name of the mutation in the variant’s genetic code, are increasing in the United States and Europe.
The new grouping is descended from the previously dominant JN.1 variant, a clade of omicron. There is currently little evidence that the new strains are more serious, but they appear to have independently acquired the same set of mutations, according to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
KP.2 is now the dominant strain in the United States, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Strain accounts for Accounting for 28.2% of all cases That’s up from 3.8% in the two weeks to May 11 at the end of March, shortly after the strain was first identified.
Cases of another FLiRT variant, KP.1.1, also account for 7.1% of current infections, the agency said.
Cases are also rising in Europe, with new variants now found in 14 countries.
The World Health Organization in its the latest update It said earlier this month that the number of cases in all reporting countries remained limited. However, individual countries have shown “a slight increase in testing from very low levels.”
Last week, the UK Health and Safety Executive explain It is continuing to monitor UK and international data relating to the new variant to assess its severity and the continued effectiveness of vaccines. “There are currently no changes to the broader public health advice,” the agency said in its update.
Jennifer Horney, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Delaware, said it currently appears unlikely that the new strain will cause widespread infections like it did in the past when immunity among the general population was low. But she noted that new strains of the virus could lead to an increase in cases in the summer ahead.
“While our view of waves of COVID-19 infections has changed during the pandemic, it is likely that these new strains will contribute to an increase in the number of cases in the United States in the coming months,” Horney told CNBC via email.
“Based on our existing immunity, rather than changes in circulating strains, many people will be mildly ill,” she said.
Still, health professionals will be keeping a close eye on the effectiveness of current vaccines against new strains.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccine Advisory Committee will meet next month to discuss recommendations for Covid-19 vaccine variant combinations this winter, Delay Earlier discussion to collect more data.
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