Covid experts have said that the latest virus variants are quickly becoming the dominant strains after an analysis by the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency) suggesting omicron BA.5 is growing 35.1 per cent faster than omicron BA.2.
In addition to this, they believe that the BA.4 strain is growing approximately 19.1 per cent faster. Because of these statistics, it suggests that BA.5 is likely to become the dominant covid variant in the UK.
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The latest figures from Public Health Scotland show that in the week ending July 3, there was 21,914 recorded cases, 4,001 (18.3%) of which were determined to be reinfections when applying the 90-day threshold.
In the same week, there were 877 admissions to hospital with a positive covid test, with the highest number of new admissions aged over 80-years-old.
In addition, there were 39 new admissions to Intensive Care Units (ICUs) with a laboratory-confirmed test of covid, whilst there were on average 1,450 patients in hospital with the virus. This was an increase of 26.3 per cent from the previous week ending June 26.
With this in mind, people are now wondering whether or not the symptoms are different to past variants and what the symptoms are. Here's everything you need to know.
How infectious are the variants?
Writing for the The Conversation, Adrian Esterman, professor of biostatistics and epidemiologist at the University of South Australia, said: "We measure how contagious a disease is by the basic reproduction number (R0). This is the average number of people an initial case infects in a population with no immunity [from vaccines or previous infection].
"New mutations give the virus an advantage if they can increase transmissibility: the original Wuhan strain has an R0 of 3.3, Delta has an R0 of 5.1, omicron BA.1 has an R0 of 9.5, BA.2, which is the dominant subvariant in Australia at the moment, is 1.4 times more transmissible than BA.1, and so has an R0 of about 13.3
"A pre-print publication from South Africa suggests BA.4/5 has a growth advantage over BA.2 similar to the growth advantage of BA.2 over BA.1. That would give it an R0 of 18.6. This is similar to measles, which was until now was our most infectious viral disease."
How likely is reinfection?
According to Wales Live, BA.4 and BA.5 appear to be very good at evading immunity which increases the chance of reinfection. Professor Esterman explained: "Reinfection is defined as a new infection at least 12 weeks after the first.
"This gap is in place because many infected people still shed virus particles many weeks after recovery. However, some unfortunate people get a new infection within the 12 weeks, and therefore are not counted. Likely, there are now tens of thousands. into their second or third infections, and this number will only get bigger with BA.4 and 5."
What are the symptoms for the BA.4 and BA.5 covid variants?
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control labelled BA.4 and BA.5 as 'variants of concern' in mid-May this year however there has been nothing to suggest these sub-variants have any new symptoms.
Thankfully there is "currently no evidence" the two variants cause more serious illness than previous variants, according to the UKHSA. And as with the initial omicron variant in winter last year, these sub-variants still seem to be leading to fewer deaths and hospitalisations.
Symptoms include:
- Cough
- Runny nose
- Sore throat
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Muscle pain
- Sneezing
- Pain
While some symptoms do overlap, it is slightly different to the Alpha variant. Those suffering with Alpha were more likely to experience shortness of breath and a loss of taste or smell in addition to some of these listed symptoms like a cough and headache.
Even if you have been fully vaccinated, you can still experience any or all symptoms of covid, including the new omicron variants.
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