A new Covid strain that has sparked calls to return face masks is ‘probably’ already in the US, experts have told DailyMail.com.
The mutated strain – known as BA.6 – has only been officially discovered in Israel and Denmark, but several scientists said it will appear in tests in America “very soon”.
Routine swabs are no longer done in the US and only a fraction of positive tests are sent off for analysis to see the Covid strain behind the case, meaning it could be weeks before new strains are detected.
Dr. Thomas Moore, an infectious disease expert at the University of Kansas, told DailyMail.com, “I’m sure it’s already out there. If it’s not here yet, it probably will be soon.’
The mutated virus, which is a spin-off of the Omicron strain, has raised concerns among some scientists due to the large number of mutations in the spike protein, the part of the virus on which vaccines are designed.
The variant may make injections less effective if it’s evolved to look different enough from its ancestor — though most experts argue no new strain will completely escape immunity from vaccines and previous infections.
Several scientists have warned that the Covid variant, known in some circles as BA.6, was already in the United States
However, there is no data yet on whether the strain is more likely to cause hospitalizations or deaths than previous variants.
Nearly everyone now has some degree of immunity to Covid, and the virus has evolved to become more contagious but less deadly, reducing the risk of another wave like the one seen in the early phase of the pandemic.
Dr. Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia in the UK, told this website: ‘If it’s an infection that’s going to outpace others then it’s probably in the US – and if it’s not now , then it will probably be very soon.’
Dr. Raj Rajnarayanan, of the New York Institute of Technology, added, “It hasn’t been identified yet, but if it’s not here now, it will be soon!”
And Dr. Aaron Glatt, an epidemiologist from New York’s Mount Sinai, said it was “always possible” that the variant had already arrived in the US.
Some British scientists – known for making gloomy predictions earlier in the pandemic – are so concerned that they have advised people to mask up again.
But the experts who spoke to DailyMail.com were more cautious.
They agreed that the new variant was unlikely to completely reverse the years of immunity to the coronavirus built up during the pandemic.
They said it would take several weeks and at least 50 confirmed cases before researchers can predict how contagious or deadly BA.6 is.
There were concerns about the new strain because it contains 30 new mutations, which may make it better able to evade current immunity.
Dr. Trisha Greenhalgh, a doctor from the University of Oxford, warned when seeing the variant that “it looks like it’s time to MASK again.”
The professor, who is also a member of the UK’s Independent SAGE, a group of academics who called on the UK government to adopt an Australian-style Covid elimination strategy early in the pandemic, acknowledged she understood “few of the details”. However.
Since the start of the Covid pandemic, she has been campaigning to keep people wearing masks. On August 4, before news of the new variant broke, she retweeted a tweet that read, “Open the window, wear a mask, buy a HEPA filter.”
The above shows hospital admissions in the US. These are up 14 percent over the past week and are 60 percent higher than last month’s record low
However, the number of deaths from Covid continues to fall – although they take longer to rise than the number of hospital admissions
In a tweet, Dr Trisha Greenhalgh, a primary care expert at the University of Oxford, wrote: ‘My various science WhatsApp groups are buzzing. Genetic lineage clips and diagrams fly back and forth.’ The professor, who is also a member of the group Independent SAGE, added: ‘I don’t understand much of the details, but it seems it’s time to MASK again’
Meanwhile, Professor Christina Pagel, a mathematician from University College London who is on Independent SAGE, said: ‘To everyone else – very early days, but this coronavirus variant (now in 2 countries) has MANY new mutations that make it v different to previous Omicron ones. tribes.’
It is “potentially more capable of creating a big wave,” she added.
The strain was originally highlighted by online Covid variant tracker Ryan Hisner, who tweeted ‘this is the real deal’.
He wrote: ‘Two more sequences from this 2nd generation BA.2 line have just surfaced in Denmark.
‘This is the real thing. There are minor differences between the three series, but they are almost identical.’
Scientists are concerned about the mutations in the spike protein, as they make antibodies – virus-fighting proteins – less able to bind to it and prevent infection.
A higher number of mutations means current immunity is less effective, increasing the risk of the virus gaining a foothold.
However, scientists point out that there are other parts of the immune system, such as T cells, that can still detect and fight the virus.