Covid is definitely not over yet. After the increase in cases for a few days, a new variant of the coronavirus might harm our fall and our winter. The BA.2.75 variant, more commonly called “Centaur” is actually not a new covid variant but a new version of Omicron BA.2 which has been dominant in Europe and a large part of the world since the beginning of the pandemic. ‘year.
At this time, scientists have not been able to prove that Centaur is more virulent or causes any other symptoms than the Omicron version we know. On the other hand, early research showed that it might be more resistant to antibodies.
“I hope this is just a false alarm,” cell biologist Ulrich Elling explained on Twitter, “but I don’t like the mutations we’re seeing in this case.”
This new variant appeared in India where it was found to spread very quickly. The first cases have also been observed in other countries including Japan, Australia, the United States or closer to us, in Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Germany. “In our country, no infection has yet been observed, but it is getting closer”explained the Flemish biostatistician Geert Molenberghs to the Nieuwsblad.
Still, according to him, it’s only a matter of time since Centaur will quickly be able to spread among the population: “After spreading rapidly in India, we should see it spreading around the world at high speed this holiday season”continued the scientist before qualifying somewhat, saying that it was still too early to know if this new version of Omicron might become the dominant variant in our country this fall.
