Globally, a COVID variant named KP.2 is spreading. Since February, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed KP.2 as a "variant requiring surveillance" on May 3 due to the rapid growth in the proportion of KP.2 in the global circulating strain.
According to the relevant situation of the new coronavirus KP.2 variant released by the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention yesterday (14th), as of May 12, a total of 25 KP.2 sequences have been monitored in local cases in the mainland. The proportion of KP.2 in the local sequences reported weekly was between 0.05%~0.30%, which was at a very low level.
According to the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, the top three dominant strains in mainland China at this stage are JN.1, JN.1.16 and JN.1.4, and the KP.2 variant was detected for the first time from local cases in Guangdong on March 11.
What is the KP.2 variant?
KP.2 is the third-generation subclade of the Omicron JN.1 variant of the novel coronavirus and a subclade of the JN.1 variant with a strong transmissibility advantage, which was first detected in samples collected in India on January 2, 2024. At present, there are no reports that the pathogenicity and immune escape ability of KP.2 are significantly changed compared with the currently circulating JN.1 variant.
What is the international prevalence of the KP.2 variant?
At present, the JN.1 variant is still the dominant circulating strain in the world. Since the beginning of this year, the proportion of the KP.2 subclade in the global circulating strains has gradually increased, from 0.16% in early January to about 14% in early May. Recently, the prevalence of KP.2 subclades in some countries is relatively high, accounting for 10%~30%.
According to the latest data released by the CDC, the KP.2 variant accounted for 28% of new coronavirus infections in the United States in the two weeks ending May 11, compared with only 6% in mid-April.
The KP.2 variant has struck many countries
Since the beginning of this year, the KP.2 variant has begun to spread in many countries around the world, and the proportion of the KP.2 subbranch in the global epidemic strain has gradually increased.
According to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on May 10, at present, the new crown variant KP.2 has replaced JN.1 as the main epidemic strain in the United States, and KP.2 has accounted for 25% of infections.
A CDC spokesperson warned that the virus is constantly changing through mutations, and sometimes these mutations can lead to new variants of the virus. Some changes and mutations make it easier for the virus to spread or make it resistant to treatments or vaccines. As the virus spreads, it may change and become more difficult to stop.
According to Global News, KP.2 is rapidly gaining dominance in Canada, with national data showing that cases infected with the KP.2 subvariant accounted for 26.6% of all COVID-19 cases in Canada, surpassing other JN.1 subvariants, according to Global News.
At the same time, the new coronavirus variant KP.2 also seems to be gradually gaining dominance in the UK. Data from Cov Spectrum suggests that the combination of KP.2 and KP.1.1 accounts for up to 40% of cases in the UK.
Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor of molecular oncology at the University of Warwick in the UK, said: "We are worried 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. ”
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. Murphy urged the public to stay up-to-date on COVID vaccinations, especially those at higher risk of serious complications from the virus.
So far, this variant has not been shown to cause more severe disease, and vaccines are still effective.
The World Health Organization said that as JN.1 continues to mutate, new variants will be derived, and the evolution of the virus will continue to be closely monitored.
Professor Zhang Wenhong:
The emergence of new subtypes of the virus will be the norm and there is no need to be overly concerned
The coronavirus is constantly mutating, but it is still difficult to break through the Omicron family. Just as the flu virus is constantly mutating, mutation is the norm for viruses to survive under host immune pressure.
The National Center for Infectious Diseases, in conjunction with data from 79 hospitals across the country, has been monitored by the platform to confirm the mutation and fluctuation of the Omicron strain. From November 2022 to early April 2023, BA.5.2 and BF.7 were the main types, and from the beginning of April 2023, the XBB classification gradually increased, and from July 2023, the clinical sample classification was mainly XBB type, and EG.5 increased rapidly, and FY.3.1 and FL.13.2 were newly found in early August. Among the "variants of interest" (VOI) mentioned by WHO, XBB.1.16 (including FU.1) was more commonly detected, and "variants under monitoring" (VUMs) In the second half of 2023, EG.5.1.1 was detected as the offspring of EG.5.1.1 in late August and HK.3 in early September, and the proportion of HK.3 gradually increased from September to December. In late October, HK.3's offspring HK.3.1 and HK.3.2 appeared. JN.1 appeared in January 2024, and more than 70% of JN.1 was detected from January to March, with JN.1.1 and JN.6 isotyping appearing, and as of April 30, JN.1 was still the main detection.
The monitoring of the concentration of nucleic acid in the sewage showed that there was a peak of COVID around January 10, 2024, and then reached a plateau of peak infection, which began to decline on March 27, and has remained at the level of 3×104 copies/L since mid-April, and the concentration of the last sample on May 13 was 2.95×104 copies/L. There was a further downward trend, and the value was similar to the interval concentration between the second and third rounds of infection.
During this period, the national clinical disease burden of the new crown did not fluctuate significantly, and it was still in normal fluctuations.
The current surveillance data suggests that the current epidemic of the new coronavirus in the mainland is still dominated by Omicron JN.1, and the current international epidemic is concerned about the offspring subtype KP.2 of JN.1, and as of May 12, a total of 25 KP.2 sequences have been detected in local cases in the mainland. The proportion of KP.2 in the local sequences reported weekly was between 0.05%~0.30%, which was still at a very low level. Although there is still a possibility that the proportion of this subtype will increase in the future, although the subtype has been detected internationally since March this year, the US CDC surveillance shows that as of May 11, the proportion of KP.2 has increased to 28.2%, but in terms of the number of emergency visits, hospitalizations and deaths, there is no significant increase in the number of people, so it can be judged that the actual clinical risk of KP.2 in the follow-up is limited.
In the future, we will continue to strengthen the surveillance of the new crown and other respiratory pathogens, and the emergence of new virus subtypes will be the norm, so there is no need to be overly concerned.
Source | "Huashan Infection" WeChat public account
Editor: Zheng Jianlong
Source: Yangcheng Evening News WeChat public account