Here comes one more COVID-19 variant, “IHU”, more infectious than Omicron

in Coronavirus January 5, 2022 0 1,019 Views

For the past two years, covid-19 has not been kind towards mankind. It seems like it’s still not in favour of Homo sapiens. With new years covid-19 has given us one more gift, the new variant-B.1.640.2- 46 mutations, making it more infectious and resistant to the vaccine. As the world is battling the spike in cases of Omicron, a scientist in France has detected a new variant, “IHU”, which was disclosed in a paper posted on medRxiv. The variant has been detected in nearly 12 patients near Marseille.

Here is what we know about the variant till now:
It has 46 mutations that are more than Omicron, making it more infectious.
Spotted in 12 patients in Marseille with a link of travelling to African country Cameroon.
It has an E484K mutation, which makes the scientist suspicious that this variant can be more resistant to vaccines.
Apart from this, it also has N501Y mutation, which was seen in Alpha variants, and so this can be more transmissible.

It is yet to be spotted in other parts of the world and labelled as a variant under investigation by WHO.
The third wave of covid-19 is spreading so rapidly.

As the third wave of covid-19 is spreading so rapidly. In India, the cases of Covid-19 is rising every single day, and so the Indian government has requested the authorities of the state to take actions as required. The worst affected state is Maharastra, with 12,160 cases, and Omicron tally goes up to 578, followed by Delhi with a tally of 382 patients. Omicron was detected last year in South Africa, and it has spread over 100 countries, including India. The number of Omicron cases in India currently stands at 1,892, which includes 766 recoveries as of January 4, 2022. Maharastra and Delhi have been the prime contributor to the spike of covid cases in India, and India’s recovery rate stands are 98.13 per cent.

Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendar Jain already warned of community transmission of Omicron in Delhi earlier, saying that people with no travel history have been found contaminated with Omicron. So, to restrain the spreading of the Omicron Covid variant, several states have started taking action and have brought back lockdown-like restrictions such as shutting down schools and colleges, religious places for outsiders, bringing back the night curfew and restricting the number of people in public transport. The best we can do to bet Covid-19 is to follow preventive measures like universal masking, get yourself and your loved ones vaccinated, avoid large gatherings, or travel to places without specific reasons.