NEW COVID VARIANT SPREADING RAPIDLY

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified a new Covid strain as a “variant of interest” because of its rapidly increasing spread.

The Covid variant JN.1 has been found in several countries around the world including the United Kingdom, India, China and the United States.

Although WHO is keeping a close eye on the spreading of the variant, it says the risk to the public is currently low and the current vaccines continue to offer protection.

The virus responsible for causing COVID-19 is ever-changing and that’s why new variants develop, especially during winter times when respiratory viruses like flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and childhood pneumonia are on the rise.

Over the last few months, Omicron has been the globally dominant variant for quite some time.

The WHO says there’s still limited evidence on how capable JN.1 is of getting around the immunity offered by vaccines. It’s currently the fastest-growing variant in the United States.

“It’s anticipated that this variant may cause an increase in Sars-Cov-2 (coronavirus) amid a surge of infections of other viral and bacterial infections, especially in countries entering the winter season.

Image credit: Yale Medicine