Another new strain of the new crown has struck many countries!
According to recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the main variant circulating in the U.S. today is the "FLiRT" family, led by KP.2: KP.2 accounts for 25%.
As early as April, some medical experts warned that FLiRT, represented by KP.2, had a more obvious transmission advantage and could trigger a new wave of new crown epidemics.
It was first found in sewers in the United States
Expert: More contagious
The latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that KP.2 now accounts for more than a quarter of infections in the United States. In the two weeks to May 11, KP.2 was estimated to account for 28.2% of U.S. cases, up from about 6% in mid-April and just 1% in mid-March.
It is reported that KP.2 is a descendant of the JN.1 variant, sometimes referred to as the "FLiRT" variant, which was originally found in the US sewer system, but the exact source is unknown.
This means that the coronavirus is still mutating. Currently, CDC is monitoring for infections caused by KP.2 and KP.1.1. Early data suggest that they produce symptoms that typically appear 2 to 14 days after infection, mainly affecting the upper respiratory tract and include sore throat, nasal congestion, runny nose, cough, fever, headache, and loss of taste and smell.
Dr. Robert Murphy, an infectious disease expert in the United States, said that while the symptoms and severity appear to be roughly the same as previous strains of the new coronavirus, the new variant appears to be more contagious. So far, this variant has not been shown to cause more severe disease, and vaccines are still effective.
Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor of molecular oncology at the University of Warwick in the UK, said, "We are concerned that this KP.2 will cause a wave of infections in the summer. Early evidence suggests that KP.2 appears to be more contagious than previous substrains, but it is too early to tell if it is more dangerous. ”
It has spread in many countries
There are no signs of transmission in the country
It is worth noting that the new variant of the new coronavirus, FLiRT, is spreading rapidly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries.
According to Global News (May 9 local time), KP.2 quickly became dominant in Canada, with data as of April 28 showing that KP.2 accounted for 26.6% of all COVID-19 cases in Canada, surpassing other JN.1 subvariants. In the UK, the FLiRT variant is also gradually dominant, with a combination of KP.2 and KP.1.1 accounting for 40% of UK cases.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a Canadian infectious disease expert, said the latest mutation suggests it may be better at evading people's immunity, which could mean that COVID-19 cases are about to surge.
In early May this year, the World Health Organization listed the KP.2 subvariant as a variant under surveillance and said it would continue to closely monitor the evolution of the virus.
However, as of now, there is no indication of the spread of this strain in China. According to the latest data released by the China Disease Control and Prevention, from April 1 to April 30, 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported a total of 11,299 local cases of the new coronavirus genome valid sequence, all of which are Omicron variants. The main circulating strains were JN.1 series variants, and the top three strains were JN.1, JN.1.4 and JN.1.16, respectively.
The trend of local cases of novel coronavirus infection in China
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