Centaurus is the nickname of a new coronavirus subvariant that has been detected in around 10 countries, including the UK.
Cases of Omicron BA.2.75 have risen steeply since it was first identified in India in May. Virologists have expressed concern over its number of mutations relative to BA.2, from which the strain is likely to have evolved.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) designated it a “variant under monitoring” on July 7 but has yet to gather enough evidence to draw conclusions on transmissibility, immunity or severity. The World Health Organization said it is also monitoring the subvariant closely.
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The UK, US, Australia, Germany, India and Canada are among the 10 countries in which Centaurus has been detected to date. Dr Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, said the subvariant is "definitely a potential candidate" for replacing BA.5 as the dominant strain.
He said: “It’s not so much the exact mutations, more the number/combination. It’s hard to predict the effect of that many mutations appearing together – it gives the virus a bit of a ‘wildcard’ property where the sum of the parts could be worse than the parts individually."
Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 were designated "variants of concern" by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on May 20. Speaking last week, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the subvariants as "driving waves" in Europe and America.
Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds, cited the emergence of Centaurus as an example of the virus' ability to adapt. He said: “This time last year, many were convinced that Delta represented an evolutionary pinnacle for the virus, but the emergence of Omicron and the vast increase in variability and antibody evasiveness is a sign that we cannot as a population follow an influenza-like plan to keep pace with viral evolution.”
The latest government data up to July 8 shows an increase in Covid cases, admissions and deaths, understood to be driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 wave. The public accounts select committee said on Wednesday (July 13) that more needs to be done to encourage England's three million unvaccinated adults to get jabbed so they are better protected against the virus.
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