According to the official website of the United Nations, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on the 46th that the number of reported cases of COVID-19 around the world has increased by nearly 30% in the past two weeks; last week, in six WHO subregions, Four are seeing an increase in cases.
Tedros also said that in Europe and the United States, Omicron subtype strains BA.4 and BA.5 are causing a new wave of epidemics; India (special topic) has detected a new sublineage BA.2.75, which is a new strain of the virus. It has spread to at least 8 countries, and WHO is closely monitoring it. Many Indian media have recently quoted Israeli scientists as saying that the BA.2.75 strain may have appeared in 10 Indian states.
original originally thought that in 2022 we would usher in the "first normal summer after the epidemic" and enjoy the freedom after the unblocking. As everyone knows, there has never been such a thing as "post-epidemic". Humanity may have always been "in the midst of the epidemic".
html In the first few days of July, news of a new surge in COVID-19 infections spread across the world. The power of the Omicron subtype strain may have exceeded people’s imagination. The
Omicron subtype mutant strain BA.5 carries key mutations that help escape immunity, making more people susceptible to repeated infections. It has become the mainstream strain in Europe and the United States, causing the number of confirmed cases and hospitalizations to rise again. According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the 5th, as many as 54% of the country’s new cases last week were caused by BA.5, which has tripled compared with the past 14 days.
Two strains of the virus, BA.4 and BA.5, are gradually occupying the highlands of the North American continent, , crowding out the original mainstream strains. More than 70% of new cases in the United States are now caused by these two strains.
In the face of subtype strains with greatly enhanced transmissibility and immune evasion capabilities, the "immunity gold medal" of infection + 3 doses of vaccine is completely useless, and repeated infections have become the norm.
What's even more terrifying is that viruses not only use the world as a hotbed for crazy reproduction and mutation, but also human beings themselves have become virus petri dishes!
Just recently, Yale University in the United States announced a new study. Connecticut and cancer patients were infected with the new coronavirus for at least 471 consecutive days, and at least 3 different virus lineages evolved in the blood!
According to researchers, the patient was first diagnosed with COVID-19 in November 2020, and continued to test positive for COVID-19 until March 2022, which lasted for 471 days.
During these nearly 500 days, this patient has been contagious and his viral load has remained at a high level.
A US study pointed out that patients with COVID-19 are more likely to develop new health problems after reinfection. The peak value falls during the reinfection period, but it may also last for at least 6 months, regardless of whether the vaccine is administered. The risk continues to rise with each reinfection.
As early as 2021, South African scientists speculated that people with low immune function are likely to become hosts of evolutionary mutations of the new coronavirus, and Omicron may have mutated in patients with chronic diseases.
Among the three virus lineages of this patient, experts discovered B.1.517. In fact, this virus did not appear for the first time, but was later silently squeezed out and disappeared, and then appeared in human blood again.
Through testing on this long-term patient and analyzing global databases, the researchers concluded that the evolution speed of the new coronavirus in the patient may be twice as fast as the evolution speed in the general population!
Not only that, , which was first discovered by the last "Poison King" Delta, has recently appeared in India with a new variant - BA.2.75! This variant
has been spread in 8 countries, including Canada and the United States. It evolved from the BA.2 variant and is called the "second generation variant" of . It has attracted great attention from scientists!
It is reported that BA.2.75 has an "unusual" mutation, which may break through the immune barrier constructed by existing vaccines and strain infections, and the infection speed is faster , which was first discovered in India.
was discovered on June 18, and has spread to 8 countries on July 5. The number of infections detected outside India is close to 100.
Shea, an expert at the Virology Laboratory of the Israeli Ministry of Health, said that the emergence of BA.2.75 is worrying. It is a "second-generation variant" evolved from the BA.2 variant, with 16 new mutations, 8 of which are located in the spike protein gene region. . It is not that the second-generation variant of
has never appeared before. Researchers have also detected many second-generation variants of COVID-19 before, but they have not spread widely, so the sample size is also very small. BA.2.75 may become the first successful second-generation variant of .
Just like BA.4 and BA.5 inherit delta residues, BA.2.75 also carries a "secret weapon" - two key mutations G446S and R493Q;
G446S can cause changes in the characteristics of the antigen , helping the virus to break through the virus. There are immune barriers built by vaccines, etc.; and R493Q can improve the ability of the virus to enter human cells, which is why experts are paying close attention to it.
In fact, BA.2.75 is indeed spreading extremely fast. Among the genome samples in India, where it originated, the proportion increased from less than 5% on June 15 to 18% on the 30th. The spread speed is faster than now Threat to Canada's 7th wave of BA, 5 faster! What does
mean?
To put it simply, we are now at the beginning of the wave of BA.5 variants. This subtype variant is already faster and stronger than the parent strain. Neither the infection nor the vaccine will work. Experts no longer know how. Cope with it.
If during this period, BA.2.75 also emerged and began to spread widely, then the next batch of people who are about to be infected with BA.5, even if they have been infected and received 4 injections of vaccine, may not be able to block it. Got BA.2.75;
In other words, After surviving the BA.5 epidemic, everyone may have to prepare for a new round of BA.2.75 epidemic. There will also be the autumn flu season...
