A new strain of Covid-19 is causing havoc across the globe as cases begin to rise, and Irish health officials have predicted its arrival here in Ireland.
Professor Luke O’Neill told Newstalk today that by his calculations, the BA.2 variant could land here in a matter of weeks.
Cases are already on the rise after the double bank holiday weekend and although health officials are monitoring the situation, there has been no chatter of impending restrictions.
The new strain has been described as the “sister” of Omicron but is understood to be much more infectious than its predecessor.
Although research is underway into the true capability of BA.2 to bring things back to a halt, here is everything we know so far.
Origin
It is not clear where BA.2 first originated, but it was detected in the Philippines back in November.
It has now been detected in more than 74 countries worldwide as a widespread hike in cases is being seen.
Last week, the World Health Organisation issued a warning on the new Omicron strain describing it as the “most transmissible variant we have seen of the SARS-COV2 virus to date.”
According to their data, over the past month, there have been 400,000 sequences sampled - 99.9% of which are Omicron while 75% correspond to the BA.2 variant.
Although more research is needed locally in Ireland when the strain touches down, a study of 8,500 households and 18,000 individuals was conducted by Denmark's SSI and found that BA.2 was "substantially" more transmissible than BA.1.
The study also found the strain was able to easily evade existing vaccines.
However, on a lighter note, the WHO's Dr. Boris Pavlin said: "Looking at other countries where BA.2 is now overtaking, we're not seeing any higher bumps in hospitalisation than expected.”
Symptoms
Dizziness and fatigue are among the commonly reported symptoms of BA.2, according to the ZOE Covid Study.
“One in 20 new cases had this variant last week, and as it's doubling every few days this should predominate within a month," says lead scientist Professor Tim Spector.
"The ZOE data has also seen more confirmed reinfections in recent weeks with around 7% of new symptomatic cases having previously tested positive, suggesting a natural infection with Delta may not offer much protection."
Other symptoms of BA. 2 include a runny nose and a headache, so if you're not sure what's causing it, you should be cautious.
Similar to other strains of Covid, you need to look out for the following symptoms, and assume you are positive if you develop them until proven different by a negative test:
- Fever or chills
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fatigue
- Muscle or body aches
- Headache
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Congestion or runny nose
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
READ MORE: Covid Ireland: Almost 65,000 cases confirmed since St Patrick's Day amid concern about new variant
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