As Covid infections rise, an expert has warned of an Omicron sub-variant symptom that affects people at nighttime.
Professor Luke O'Neill of Trinity College spoke about the latest increase in cases and the BA.5 variant on Newstalk.
"One extra symptom for BA.5 I saw this morning is night sweats - isn't that strange?" said the immunologist on the Irish radio station. "So the disease is slightly different because the virus has changed."
He continued: "And meanwhile there is some immunity to it - obviously with the T cells and so on - and that mix of your immune system and the virus being slightly different might give rise to a slightly different disease, with strangely enough, night sweats being a feature."
"But very importantly, if you're vaccinated and you're boosted, it doesn't progress into severe disease is the message to keep reminding people."
Prof O'Neill dubbed BA.5 a "sibling" of Omicron BA.1 - the variant that rapidly became the dominant strain of the virus in the UK in late 2021 and led to a massive wave of infections.
He told the programme on Thursday that the current vaccines still provide "good protection" while adding that he believes there will be updated vaccines in time for winter.
Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 were first identified in February in South Africa. The highly infectious strains are driving Covid infections in the UK and across the world, including Portugal, where BA.5 is now the dominant strain.
The autumn booster programme will provide additional jabs to people in Scotland from September, announced the Scottish Government on July 15.
Eligible groups include all adults aged over 50, healthcare workers, carers, groups at extra risk of Covid (including pregnant people), and household contacts of immunosuppressed people. The boosters will be also given with the flu jab to people who are eligible.
Omicron BA.5 is growing 35.1 percent faster than BA.2, while BA.4 is growing 19.1 percent faster, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)'s latest Covid variant update on June 24.
"This suggests that BA.5 is likely to become the dominant COVID-19 variant in the UK," said the UKHSA.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - sign up to our daily newsletter here .
