The BA.5 variant is fueling a further increase in Covid infections in Europe.
It was to be a post-Covid-19 summer in Europe. The masks have disappeared in most places and the holiday season is in full swing, as workers rush to the beaches and cities they lost in the two years marked by the pandemic. But instead, the reality people face is that the virus never went away.
A super transmissible subvariant of the omicron strain, known as BA.5, is fueling a further increase in infections, with increasing cases in the UK and the mainland. Income from intensive care is rising, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, which has warned that another wave of the disease is beginning.
The end of restrictions on international travel and the return of mass participation events such as music festivals are also helping the virus spread. And the cases may already be much higher than the figures currently show, as most countries have drastically reduced the evidence.
But governments have long since thrown out Covid’s initial playbook and are reluctant to tighten mask rules, limit meetings or reinstate vaccination and travel requirements. Most are pushing for another round of reinforcements for people at risk, with Europe’s relatively high vaccination rates to keep the mortality rate low.
The timing of the hike suggests that Covid is not yet as seasonal as the winter flu. In contrast, successive waves of increasingly infectious versions show that it is still unclear what it will mean to live with the virus in the long term, said Martin McKee, a professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“This is not like the seasonal flu,” he said, adding that there is no guarantee that current vaccines will continue to be as effective against future variants. “We’re seeing waves every few months. And as a result, we have to reevaluate where we’re going with that.”
The Emergency Committee of # COVID19 met and concluded that the outbreak remains a public health emergency of international interest. New waves of the virus show that the pandemic is not over. We must step back with safe and effective tools to prevent infections, hospitalizations and deaths https://t.co/9KeqSriZWH
– Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) July 13, 2022
To combat the peak of summer, the ECDC issued a new guide this week recommending that adults over the age of 60 and medically vulnerable people of any age consider a second booster now instead of waiting for a vaccine to be given. ‘has adapted to be more effective against current variants. .
According to ECDC Director Andrea Ammon, given that most people in this age group received their original reinforcements more than three or six months ago, protection against serious illness may be waning.
“The risk to people is now,” said Pierre Delsaux, head of HERA, the EU’s emergency health authority. “It’s better to get vaccinated now because current vaccines are still effective.”
In the UK, the government announced on Friday that it will expand its Covid booster vaccination campaign, which will begin in the autumn, to include all people aged 50 and over. The infection rate there is rising and is the highest since April in England, according to the latest survey.
Hospitalizations are also increasing, in some cases faster than the recorded increase in infections. The disparity between the measures is probably due to less precise monitoring, said Louise Blair, who heads the vaccine and variant team at London-based data firm Airfinity Ltd.
He added that the summer wave is a reminder that the virus is not yet seasonal. “Actually, we’re seeing cases and waves driven by new variants instead of mixing inland,” Blair said.
And the increase is not limited to Europe. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that the BA.5 variant probably accounts for about 65% of cases. Infections there could reach 600,000 cases a day, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated in a report, based on patterns observed in South Africa, where omicron was first identified, and elsewhere.
New York’s positivity rate is the highest since January and Los Angeles County raised its Covid warning level this week. He also warned that if case numbers are maintained, masks will be required inside. In Japan, Tokyo raised its infection alert to the highest level.
“From a psychological perspective, many people may feel trapped in a limbo around Covid,” said Rachel McCloy, a behavioral psychologist at the University of Reading. The absence of restrictions sends a message that things have returned to normal, but “on the other hand, rates are rising, people are sick and at risk, and everything is still not as it was,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated channel.)