The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the new EG.5 variant of COVID-19 could increase cases worldwide, although there is currently no scientific evidence that it causes an increase in hospitalizations.
In a report released this Tuesday, the United Nations international health organization defined: “low” risk to public health It was introduced by EG.5, a strain from XBB.1.9.2 first reported on February 17. It was identified as a variant under surveillance on 19 July and today WHO has classified it as a variant of interest.
“EG.5 a higher prevalence, growth advantage and immune escape characteristicsThere has been no change in the severity of the disease to date. Although simultaneous increases in hospitalization rates (lower than previous waves) for GD.5 and COVID-19 have been observed in countries such as Japan and South Korea, no association has been established between these hospitalizations and GD.5,” stressed the organization.
However, WHO also points out that EG.5 can cause a disease because of its growth advantage and immune-escaping properties. increased incidence of cases and it becomes dominant in some countries and even globally.”
EG.5 carries an additional F456L mutation in the spike protein compared to the subvariables from which it is derived, XBB.1.9.2 and XBB.1.5. Within the EG.5 lineage, the EG.5.1 subvariate has an additional Q52H mutation at the spike and represents 88 percent of the sequences available for EG.5 and its descendants.
Globally, there has been a steady increase in EG.5. For the week of 17-23 July, its overall prevalence was 17.4 percent, so “A significant increase” According to the data released four weeks ago (June 19-25), it was 7.6 percent.
As of August 7, 7,354 EG.5 sequences from 51 countries had been collected for study. Most come from China (30.6%, 2,247 sequences). Other countries with at least 100 serials are the United States (18.4%, 1,356), South Korea (14.1%, 1,040), Japan (11.1%, 814), Canada (5.3%, 392), Australia (2.1%, 158). ), Singapore (2.1%, 154), United Kingdom (2.0%, 150), France (1.6%, 119%), Portugal (1.6%, 115%) and Spain (1.5%, 107).