Joe Sommerlad
Mon, June 27, 2022, 11:19 a.m.
The UK is currently facing its fifth wave of Covid-19 infections, experts have warned, as cases hit 1.7m in the latest weekly figures, a 23 per cent climb week-on-week (w-o-w).
More worryingly, hospitalisations have increased 31 per cent w-o-w, climbing at a higher rate than the last Omicron revival back in March.
In reply to WI_cricfan
Just when you think it’s over, a sudden destruction!!
In reply to WI_cricfan
I know several people who have caught coronavirus in the past month in the UK.
In reply to WI_cricfan
and meanwhile issac bogash is saying a new variant omicron BA 5 is gaining ground in ontario .... wait until it gets colder and masks and more jabs will be mandated
In reply to nickoutr
wait until it gets colder and masks and more jabs will be mandated
It's really a shame because those jabs and mandates will inevitably end up saving a bunch of retards like you from death and/or severe illness.
Experts say BA.5 is the one to worry about: “The worst version of the virus that we’ve seen,” as Dr. Eric Topol, the founder of Scripps Research Translational Institute, recently put it. Together, the closely related BA.4 and BA.5 now account for the majority of new U.S. COVID cases, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — but BA.5 (36.6%) is spreading a lot faster than BA.4 (15.7%). By early July, it will be the dominant strain in the U.S.
That’s troublesome for several reasons. To our immune system, the distance from BA.1 to heavily mutated BA.4 and BA.5 is “far greater,” Topol writes, than the distance from the original BA.1 virus to previous blockbuster variants such as Alpha and Delta — which makes them harder to recognize and respond to. According to the latest research, that could mean:
More breakthrough infections, especially among people who previously had BA.1. Compared to BA.2, BA.2.12.1 is only modestly (1.8-fold) more resistant to antibodies from vaccinated and boosted individuals. But BA.4 and BA.5 are substantially (4.2-fold) more resistant.
More symptoms. BA.4 and BA.5 are also better at replicating in lung cells than BA.2 — a shift that could mean, according to one experimental model, that they’re more “pathogenic” as well (i.e., more likely to make you sick).
More resistance to treatments. At the same time, BA.4 and BA.5 appear to be 20-fold more resistant than BA.2 to Evusheld — an important monoclonal antibody treatment that has been providing preemptive protection for immunocompromised people.
How can covid be over when "covid is a hoax"? remember?
