The World Health Organization and US health authorities announced Friday that they are closely monitoring a new variant of Covid-19, although “the potential impact of its multiple mutations is not yet known.”
And the World Health Organization decided to classify a new mutant “in the category of mutants under surveillance due to the large number (more than 30) of spike protein” on its surface, which plays an essential role in the virus entering human cells, according to what the organization wrote in its epidemiological bulletin dedicated to the pandemic. COVID-19, which was published Thursday night Friday.
So far, this new variant has been detected in Israel, Denmark and the United States.
For its part, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated on the “X” platform that it is closely monitoring the variant.
The World Health Organization stated that “the potential impact of the new mutant mutations is still unknown and is being carefully evaluated.”
Professor of biology at the University of London, Francois Ballou, said the interest aroused by the new mutant is justified.
He added, in a comment published Friday, that "the PA.86.2 strain is the most prominent strain of SARS-CoV-2 in the world since the emergence of Omicron," referring to the mutant that led to a significant increase in global infections in the winter of 2022.
"Over the coming weeks, we will see the impact of PA.86.2 compared to other Omicron mutations," he said.
He stressed that even if PA.86.2 causes a significant increase in the number of infections, "we do not expect to see levels of severe disease and death similar to what we saw earlier during the epidemic period when the alpha, delta and ometron variants circulated."
"Currently, most people on earth have received the vaccine and / or have been infected with the virus," he said, noting that even if people are infected with the new mutant, "the immune memory allows its immune system to control and control the infection."
A statement issued by the World Health Organization confirmed that between July 17 and August 13, more than 1.4 million new cases of Covid-19 and more than 2,300 deaths were recorded.
As of August 13, 2023, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has reached more than 769 million, while the number of deaths from the virus has reached more than 6.9 million worldwide.
