Covid-19 Australia: Kerry Chant warns of new coronavirus wave with new Omicron variant XBB
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One of Australia’s top health bosses has warned that the country is being swept by a new wave of Covid-19 cases due to the arrival of two new Omicron variants.
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant has expressed concerns from interstate counterparts that have subvariants BQ. 1 and XBB will reign supreme and soon overtake BA. 5 as the dominant species in Australia.
The XBB strain, which recently surfaced in Singapore, has ripped through Australia with cases increasing tenfold in a matter of weeks.
XBB has been described by some international experts as the ‘nightmare variant’ and the ‘most vaccine resistant yet’.
The news comes after researchers at the University of Queensland’s School of Biomedical Science recently discovered a previously unknown Covid side effect on the brain, which experts describe as a ‘silent killer’.
Covid cases are expected to peak again in the coming weeks with the arrival of two new variants. Pictured are crowds at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney last month
In a video message, Dr Chant warned: ‘We are starting to see an increase in Covid-19 cases and changes in the variants circulating in NSW, telling us we are entering the next Covid wave.’
“Looking at all the local information we have and what’s happening abroad, we think the number of Covid cases will increase in the coming weeks.”
dr. Chant reiterated that vaccinations were the best protection against the new strain and urged sick people to stay at home just weeks after the last Covid restrictions were lifted in Australia.
‘The protection the NSW community has against vaccination and previous infection continues to reduce the risk of serious illness,’ said Dr Chant.
“However, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions are still at risk.
Researchers at the University of Queensland’s School of Biomedical Science found on Thursday that Covid-19 activates the same inflammatory response in the brain as Parkinson’s disease.
Their findings have been published in scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry.
“We studied the effect of the virus on the brain’s immune cells, ‘microglia’, the main cells involved in the progression of brain diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s,” said Prof. Trent Woodruff.
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant (pictured) expects sub-variants BQ. 1 and XBB become the new dominant Covid strains in Australia
“Our team grew human microglia in the lab and infected the cells with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. We found that the cells effectively got ‘angry’ and activated the same pathway that the proteins of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s can activate.’
It creates a ‘fire’ in the brain, leading to a ‘chronic and ongoing’ process of killing neurons.
“It’s kind of a silent killer because you haven’t seen any outward symptoms for years,” added Dr Albornoz Balmaceda.
“It may explain why some people who have had Covid-19 are more vulnerable to developing neurological symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease.”
Health bosses have warned people with Covid symptoms to stay at home while sick Pictured, Sydney Central Station commuters
NSW registered 9,707 cases in the week ending October 28, an increase of 11.4 percent from the previous week.
About 227 cases were hospitalized, including 18 in intensive care, while 17 deaths were recorded.
“Several sub-variants of the virus are in circulation and the dominance of BA.4 and BA.5 is declining (63%),” according to the latest NSW Health report released Thursday.
“We are closely monitoring the S gene target and sequence data related to the BA.2 sublines and we are also monitoring other emerging variants.”
The two new variants emerged after the latest Covid restrictions were recently lifted (pictured, a Sydneysider being taken at a drive-through clinic)
In Victoria, Covid cases rose by nearly a quarter within a week, while hospital admissions rose 20 percent, raising concerns from health officials about ‘the start of another COVID-19 wave’.
‘Surveillance shows the presence of multiple Omicron subvariants in Victoria, including rapid growth of (the Omicron subvariant) BQ. 1 and XBB in the past month, with a combined prevalence of about 10 percent in wastewater and clinical samples,” Victoria’s chief health officer, Professor Brett Sutton, said last week.
“As the number of cases rises locally and internationally, particularly in Europe and Southeast Asia, Victorians are being reminded that vaccination, masks, ventilation, testing, staying home when sick and COVID-19 treatments are highly effective in reducing transmission , illness and deaths and also to protect the health system.’
Queensland counterpart, Dr. John Gerrard, admitted this week it was “quite possible” that the Sunshine State will soon experience another wave of the virus.
“The virus will probably stay with us forever,” he said.
“At this stage, it is difficult for our epidemiologists to predict what the pandemic will do in the future.”
Leading infectious disease experts estimate that about 80 percent of Australians have had Covid in the three years since the pandemic hit our shores in January 2020.
The World Health Organization has not yet identified XBB as a variant of concern.
Health authorities in Victoria last week warned of ‘the start of another COVID-19 wave’ with XBB’s ‘rapid’ growth (pictured, people in Melbourne’s CBD)