Why is this variant of concern?
This member of the Omicron family is particularly scrutinized because of a “largest number of mutations”making it “likely to evolve more significantly and spread more easily”recalled last week the president of the Committee for monitoring and anticipating health risks (Covars) Brigitte Autran.
On August 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) alerted to this new variant of Covid-19 which raises fears of an upsurge in cases.
Where was it detected?
This variant case was detected in the Great Eastspecified Public Health France, stressing that it had “launched an investigation to collect epidemiological information documenting this first case”.
This variant had been detected so far in several countries, including the United States, Denmark or Israel, but not yet in France. This Friday morning, Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau said he had been spotted 25 times around the world.
The BA.2.86 variant “does not call for any particular health response” at this point, he said.
What are its characteristics?
The WHO has decided to classify this new variant, nicknamed “Pirola” on social mediain the category of variants under surveillance due to the very large number (more than 30) of mutations of the Spike gene that it carries.
It is the Spike protein that gives the virus its spiky appearance and is what allows SARS-CoV-2 to enter host cells.
Should we expect an increase in hospitalizations?
Even though BA.2.86 caused a major spike in infections, “we do not expect to see comparable levels of serious illness and deaths compared to what we did earlier in the pandemic when the Alpha, Delta or Omicron variants spread”had recently commented on François Balloux, who heads the chair of bioinformatics at University College London.
