The new strain of Covid may be the most infectious virus ever as case numbers and hospital admissions rise.
Latest figures show there are 1,055 people being treated for the virus and 38 in intensive care. But top immunologist Professor Luke O’Neill says vaccinations and immunity are protecting public health.
And he believes there is no need for alarm because ICU numbers have not gone up. Prof O’Neill said: “How many people are in the ICU?
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“That’s our primary concern. That’s looking good, mercifully. ICU numbers haven’t gone up.”
He explained that the reason Covid is rampant is because the Omicron subvariant BA.5 is possibly the most transmissible virus known to man. Prof O’Neill added: “There is infection out there. It’s spreading because the new variant BA.5 is much more transmissible than Omicron.
“Analysing BA5, my reading is it is the most infectious virus ever to hit us. It’s as bad as measles. It’s in the league of a whole room getting it if one person in the room has it.
"In an indoor setting, with a big crowd, if there’s a superspreader in that room and you’re there for 30 minutes, there’s a really high chance you will get it.” But Prof O’Neill believes BA.5 will peak soon and cases will go down.
He said: “It’s happened in Portugal and South Africa, it’s peaked. “They got it ahead of us, so we can tell BA.5 will peak soon by looking at what happened there.
“Basically, the virus infects everyone it can infect. The infection goes away and then the concern returns when another variant comes along, which they do about every four months or so.
“But it’s hard to imagine anything more infectious than BA.5. Eventually the virus becomes stable and will be like the common cold. But we can’t say yet when that is going to be.”
Another surprise of BA.5 is how common it is in the warmer months. Prof O’Neill said: “This is not common for respiratory viruses. Most go away in summer as we’re all outdoors. So it’s a bit different.”
Read more:
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- New Covid-19 variant: Expert warns to expect new wave every few months
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