It has been spreading rapidly in the United States, which is in summer, and comprises 17.3 per cent of Covid cases in that country. Hospitalisations are up 12.5 per cent in the most recent week. Updated vaccines available in September there are expected to offer protection against it, as they are based on the XBB strain.
The new subvariant has been detected in Australia, Canada, China, Japan, and South Korea. In Britain, EG.5.1 is the second most common strain with 15 per cent of cases. The WHO says more than “7000 sequences have been shared from 51 countries”.
What does this mean for people in a practical sense?
For most, Eris means taking a bit of extra care as they would to avoid catching and passing on other Covid strains or the flu.
It’s an Omicron offshoot so it has the usual symptoms: sneezing, cough, fatigue, aches, headaches. It’s not thought to be a worse health risk than other Omicron strains, but it’s easier to catch.
WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove said: “We don’t detect a change in severity of EG.5 compared to other sublineages of Omicron that have been in circulation since late 2021.”
Dr Mandy Cohen, director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, added that “what we’re seeing with the changes in the viruses, they’re still susceptible to our vaccine [and] medicines, they’re still picked up by the tests”.
While that’s encouraging, in New Zealand we’re still in winter and the weather is highly changeable from sun to rain, warm to chilly. Consequently, there are plenty of colds and flu around.
At present, there are lots of student absences from schools for sickness. Flu tracker data also shows we are still rising in the flu season.
The health system is under strain and doesn’t need extra pressure in the form of a surge in Covid cases. Hospitals are full already.
With a new strain lurking, there’s more need for people to use the lessons we learned during the main part of the pandemic to reduce transmission.
People can do their part by staying home if they’re sick to avoid spreading it, getting tested for Covid, and keeping their distance from people coughing and sneezing. If travelling, consider masking for flights, and train or bus journeys.
With Covid it’s wise to keep immunity levels up and get a booster shot, if you haven’t had one.
Here, new Covid cases are steady with a seven-day average under 1000. Weekly hospital admissions with the coronavirus have steadily fallen from 311 on April 16 to 141 on July 30. The level of Covid detected in wastewater is also low.
Overseas experts say that hospital admissions are still low compared to earlier in the pandemic.
The WHO noted that reporting of Covid data on hospitalisations to the organisation had gone down globally. Van Kerkhove said that “about a year ago, we were in a much better situation to either anticipate or act or be more agile. And now the delay in our ability to do that is growing.”
Covid surveillance is important to quickly spot a distinctive mutation that might be a game-changer.
Eris doesn’t appear to be that, even if it carries the name of the Greek goddess of strife and discord.
