New Coronavirus News from 24 Jan 2022

Stealth Omicron COVID Variant BA.2 That May Spread Faster Found in at Least 40 Countries [Newsweek, 24 Jan 2022]

BY ED BROWNE

The Omicron BA.2 sub-variant, also dubbed "stealth Omicron," has been detected in at least 40 countries worldwide.

BA.2 has caught attention in recent days as it has been responsible for an increasing proportion of Omicron infections compared to the BA.1 lineage that has been the dominant Omicron type so far.

Labs in countries including Denmark and Norway have reported that the sub-variant has been gaining ground, accounting for nearly half of all COVID cases in the former as of January 20, marking a sharp increase in recent weeks.

Virologists say that there is much to learn about BA.2, but it appears the sub-variant may have a transmission advantage over BA.1.

In a press release issued last Friday, the U.K.'s Health Security Agency (HSA) said that BA.2 had been classified as a variant under investigation (VUI) due to international and domestic cases, adding that BA.2 appears to have an increased growth rate compared to BA.1, based on early analysis.

However, the HSA stated that the proportion of BA.2 cases in the country compared to BA.1 was "currently low" and that further analysis was needed to determine the significance of the sub-variant and its mutations.

"So far, there is insufficient evidence to determine whether BA.2 causes more severe illness than Omicron BA.1, but data is limited and UKHSA continues to investigate," said Dr Meera Chand, COVID-19 Incident Director at the HSA.

Effectiveness of Vaccines
A press release from Denmark's Statens Serum Institut (SSI) infectious disease research institution last week stated that it is expected that vaccines will continue to have an effect on severe illness caused by BA.2

A total of 40 countries had uploaded BA.2 sequences to the virus sequencing database GISAID since November 17, the HSA said last Friday. Outbreak.info, an online tool that presents COVID statistics using GISAID data, put that figure at 49 as of Monday.

One notable aspect of BA.2 is that it lacks a genetic characteristic that scientists had used to identify Omicron cases previously—giving credence to its "stealth Omicron" monicker.

However, Cornelius Roemer, a computational biologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland, tweeted last week that BA.2 is still detectable on PCR tests and branded news reports to the contrary as "totally wrong."

"Depending on the PCR test used it may not look like BA.1 (the other Omicron). But it will still give a positive result," he wrote.

According to GISAID on Monday morning, a total of 12,842 BA.2 sequences had been uploaded to its database from around the world. Some 67 of those were reported from the USA.

UK's Covid cases tick up again after a fortnight of Omicron fizzling out: Britain records 88,447 positive tests in 5% jump on last week - but both deaths and hospital admissions fall [Daily Mail, 24 Jan 2022]

By STEPHEN MATTHEWS HEALTH EDITOR and EMILY CRAIG

Britain's Covid outbreak could be rebounding already, with infections now creeping back up after the Omicron crisis seemingly fizzled out.

UK Health Security Agency bosses today logged 88,447 positive tests, up 5 per cent on last week's tally. It marks the second day in a row that infections have risen week-on-week.

Despite question marks emerging over the true trajectory of the outbreak, both hospital admissions and deaths continue to fall.

Britain today posted 56 deaths — down by a third on last Monday's toll. Meanwhile, another 1,967 Covid-infected patients required NHS care on Tuesday — a fall of 17 per cent, according to the most up-to-date UK-wide statistics.

Both measures are expected to keep heading downwards for the next few weeks because of how long it can take for people to become severely ill after getting infected. Britain's Omicron wave collapsed at the start of January before flatlining towards the middle of the month.

Despite the extremely-transmissible variant sending cases to pandemic highs, the number of Covid patients on ventilators has barely risen throughout the wave and is now at a six-month low, illustrating how mild the Omicron wave is compared to previous surges.

A total of 521 people were in hospital yesterday receiving breathing support in England, seven times lower than at the height of the second wave this time a year ago.

Vaccines, natural immunity and the intrinsically milder nature of the Omicron variant have helped sever the once impenetrable-link between infections and severe illness.

Ministers have taken confidence from the situation in hospitals to drop Plan B curbs in England from this Thursday, while Boris Johnson has signalled his intent to scrap all Covid laws by the spring. Work from home guidance and face masks in secondary schools have already been ditched.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said last week that the promising Omicron data in the UK signalled a 'new chapter' in the pandemic, as he compared the burden of Covid to flu.

But a World Health Organization official today warned against drawing comparisons between the two viruses. Dr David Nabarro, the agency's special envoy on Covid, said Covid was still 'very, very dangerous', adding: 'The virus should not be likened to flu. It's a new virus, and we must go on treating it as though it is full of surprises, very nasty and rather cunning.'

Covid figures tend to be artificially lower on a Monday, because they are reported just after a weekend when few people turn up for a swab for the virus.

But the slight rise on the week before — for the second day in a row — suggests the Omicron wave may now be beginning to turn around.

Under-14s are currently seeing their infection rate tick upwards week-on-week amid the return to school, while the fall in cases among 35 to 50-year-olds is beginning to slow down.

It comes as:
• World Health Organization chiefs warned against comparing Covid to the flu, saying it is still 'very nasty' and 'full of surprises';
• Number of hospitalised Covid patients in England needing a ventilator plunges to six-month low;
• No plans to scrap Covid vaccine mandate for frontline workers, Downing Street says
• Tougher Covid restrictions in England and Wales 'haven't made a difference', scientists claim;
• Anti-vaxxer, 28, dies of Covid after tearing off his oxygen mask and insisting he did not have the virus.

Latest NHS data shows 14,334 people in England were in hospital yesterday with the coronavirus, 2.4 times lower than last winter's peak which saw 34,336 infected individuals requiring NHS care on January 18.

But the difference in the number of patients on ventilators was even more stark, with 524 Covid-infected patients across England requiring breathing support — roughly seven times lower than the 3,736 logged on January 24 last year, before the vaccine rollout.

The figure is also the lowest number seen since July 18, when 512 Covid patients in England were on ventilators and the Delta variant was dominant.

Since the Omicron burst onto the scene at the end of November, ventilation numbers have dropped from an average of 790 per day to 570 per day.

Ventilators are the last line of breathing support available to patients. The figures do not show the number of patients requiring support through other machines to help them breathe, such as CPAP machines.

And latest official figures suggest the majority (61 per cent) of patients who were admitted to ICU with Covid last month were unvaccinated.

And just 3.7 per cent of hospitalised patients in England are on ventilators, the smallest share since the pandemic began. For comparison, 18.8 per cent of all patients in hospital last June needed mechanical breathing assistance.

The jabs have been hailed for slashing the link between catching the virus and severe outcomes, meaning fewer people go to hospital and die from the virus in relation to the number of people who get infected.

More than eight in 10 Britons aged 12 and over are double-jabbed, while more than six in 10 have had a third dose.

And the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates 97 per cent of adults across the UK have Covid antibodies, either through vaccination or infection.

Growing immunity, large case numbers and the milder Omicron variant have also seen a rise in 'incidental' hospital admissions — patients who are in hospital for something else but also have Covid.

NHS England's most up-to-date figures show 47.9 per cent of all Covid 'patients' in the country were not primarily unwell with the virus.

Low hospitalisation and death rates has led experts to compare the burden of Covid to flu, with scientists saying the virus may get weaker each year until it poses a similar threat to the common cold.

But when asked on Sky News this morning about remarks likening Covid to the flu, WHO Covid expert Dr Nabarro said: 'I keep wondering what the people who make these amazing predictions know that I and my colleagues don't know.

'You see, what people are seeing from around the world and reporting to the WHO is this is still a very, very dangerous virus, especially for people who have not been vaccinated and who've not been exposed to it before.'

He warned that the virus will continue to mutate, with more variants 'not far away'.

'So quite honestly, we are not saying that this should be considered to be like flu or indeed like anything else. It's a new virus, and we must go on treating it as though it is full of surprises, very nasty and rather cunning,' Dr Nabarro said.

Governments 'should not suggest' that data has 'suddenly changed' or that the virus has 'suddenly got incredibly weak' and instead focus on 'keeping the virus at bay, preventing people from getting infected if at all possible, and making certain that we are well prepared to deal with further surges as they come', he said.

Dr Nabarro said the end of the pandemic was 'in sight', but warned there is uncertainties around how the pandemic will continue to unfold.

He said: 'The end is in sight, but how long is it going to take to get there? What sort of difficulties will we face on the way? Those are the questions that none of us can answer because this virus continues to give us challenges and surprises.

'It's as though we're just passing the halfway mark in a marathon and we can see that yes, there is an end and fast runners are getting through ahead of us.

'But we've still got a long, long way to trudge and it's going to be tough.'
The WHO's regional director said the continent is entering a 'new phase' of the pandemic, driven by Omicron.
Dr Hans Kluge said: 'While Omicron appears to cause much less severe disease than Delta, we are still seeing a rapid rise in hospitalisations, due to the sheer number of infections.

'This is in addition to a Delta burden that has not entirely passed, and also to the high number of incidental admissions.

'Fortunately, hospitalisations with Omicron result much less frequently in ICU admission. As predicted, most people needing intensive care across the Region are unvaccinated.'

He said the pandemic 'will end' but it is 'far too early to relax.'

Millions of daily infections worldwide, as well as waning immunity means it is 'almost a given that new Covid variants will emerge and return', Dr Kluge said.

But lockdowns may not be needed in future waves due to the high vaccine uptake and antivirals, utilising variant monitoring systems and measures such as ventilating spaces, targeted testing, shielding at-risk groups, face masks and social distancing, he added.