Tag Archives: COVID variant

New Covid Variant as China prepares for new wave

Beijing Face Masks

Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

Important Takeaways:

  • China prepares for new wave of covid cases from XBB variants
  • Chinese authorities are rushing to push out vaccines to fight an ongoing new wave of the coronavirus expected to peak in June and infect as many as 65 million people a week, as the new XBB variants of the virus evolves to overcome the immunity built up after China’s abrupt exit from its “zero covid” policy last year
  • a top Chinese epidemiologist, said Monday that two new vaccines for the XBB omicron subvariants (including XBB. 1.9.1, XBB. 1.5, and XBB. 1.16) had received initial approval, according to state media reports. Zhong, speaking at biotech forum in Guangzhou, said three to four other vaccines were set to be approved soon, but he did not provide more details.
  • The new outbreak could be the largest wave of infections since China dismantled its strict zero-covid regime last winter, causing as much as 85 percent of the population to be infected at the time.
  • …officials in China say the new wave will be less severe, public health experts say that an aggressive vaccine booster program and a ready supply of antivirals at hospitals are needed…

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New Covid variant pops up in Israel

Revelations 6:8 “And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.”

Important Takeaways:

  • NEW THREAT Two people in Israel hit with Covid variant ‘not yet known to the world’
  • The novel strain caused mild symptoms of fever, headaches and muscle aches in the patients, local media report.
  • Genetic sequencing revealed the strain the two people were carrying was a combination of the original (BA.1) and newer (BA.2) Omicron variants.
  • The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned European countries against underestimating the dangers posed by the mixed strain
  • It is still too early to speculate on how virulent and severe the dual Omicron strain might be.
  • A recent increase in Asian countries – China, Hong Kong, and South Korea – could be “the tip of the iceberg,” particularly since testing has reduced in some countries.

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First known U.S. Omicron case found in fully vaccinated overseas traveler

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday identified its first known case of Omicron, discovered in a fully vaccinated patient who traveled to South Africa, as scientists continue to study the risks the new COVID variant could pose.

Public health officials said the infected person, who had mild symptoms, returned to the United States from South Africa on Nov. 22 and tested positive seven days later.

That patient was fully vaccinated but did not have a booster shot, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official, who briefed reporters at the White House.

The person is in self-quarantine and all of the patient’s close contacts have tested negative so far, he said.

Key questions remain about the new variant, which has rattled markets amid signs it may spread quickly and evade some of the defenses provided by vaccines. It has been found in two dozen countries, including Spain, Canada, Britain, Austria and Portugal.

Fauci said it could take two weeks or more to gain insight into how easily the variant spreads from person to person, how severe is the disease it causes and whether it can bypass the protections provided by vaccines currently available.

“We don’t have enough information right now,” said Fauci, who serves as an adviser to President Joe Biden, adding that the variant’s molecular profile “suggests that it might be more transmissible, and that it might elude some of the protection of vaccines, but we don’t know that now… We have to be prepared that there’s going to be a diminution in protection.”

For days, U.S. health officials have said the new variant -first detected in southern Africa and announced on Nov. 25 – was likely already in the United States as dozens of other countries also detected its presence.

“This new variant is a cause for concern but not a cause for panic,” Biden said on Wednesday before the Omicron case was announced. A spokesperson, Jen Psaki, said he the president had been briefed by his team on the first known case.

The United States has barred nearly all foreigners who have been in one of eight southern African countries. On Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directed airlines to disclose names and other information of passengers who have been to those countries.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Ahmed Aboulenein and Nandita Bose in Washington, and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Lisa Shumaker)