- Times of India
VIVA – The new variant from COVID-19 namely Omicron Super. This variant can spread quickly and it starts to dominate the world. It makes the scientist feel worried because this variant began to develop in India and appeared in many other countries, including the United States (US).
The scientists say the variant, which they call BA.2.75, may be able to spread quickly and avoid immunity from vaccines and previous infections.
It is not known for certain whether it can cause more serious disease than other Omicron variants, including the globally prominent BA.5.
"It's too early for us to draw too many conclusions," Matthew Binnicker, Director of clinical virology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota said.
“But it looks like, especially in India, the transmission rate is showing an exponential increase. Whether it will outperform BA.5 is still undecided," Matthew added as quoted from ABC News on Wednesday, July 13, 2022.
Ilustrasi Omicron
- Dokumentasi VIVA
According to Lipi Thukral as a scientist at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi conveyed the fact that it has been detected in many parts of the world even with lower levels of surveillance of the virus is an early indication of its spread.
"The latest mutant has been seen in several distant states in India, and appears to be spreading more rapidly than other variants there," Lipi Thukral remarked.
The spread has also been detected in about 10 other countries, including Australia, Germany, the UK and Canada. Two cases were recently identified on the US West Coast, and Helix identified a third US case last week.
The triggering concern for experts is the large number of mutations that separate this new variant from its predecessor Omicron. Some of those mutations are in areas associated with spike proteins and allow the virus to bind to cells more efficiently.
Another concern is changing of genetic could make it easier for the virus to pass through protective antibodies made by the body. In response to a vaccine or infection from a previous variant.
Meanwhile dr. Gagandeep Kang, who studies the virus at Christian Medical College India in Vellore said the growing concern over the variant underscores the need for more ongoing efforts to track the virus that combine genetic efforts with real-world information about who is sick and how badly.
"We want to return to pre-pandemic life, but we still have to be careful. We have to accept that we are now living with a higher level of risk than we used to be,” dr. Gagandeep Kang said.
