A phenomenon called 'pre-COVID' is being witnessed currently
Just as the world was heaving a sigh of relief from COVID, the emergence of the Eris variant has stirred a new panic. This variant, a mutant of Omicron, is spreading faster. A pattern of occurrence of COVID signs, where the signs were felt but the COVID test came to be negative, is being seen currently. This pattern was seen in people during the initial days of the pandemic as well. Termed as pre-COVID, this phenomenon is one of the reasons why COVID spread faster earlier.
What happens exactly in this?
What does this mean?
This means it is the onset phase of the COVID. At this stage, the COVID infection is at an early stage, which is medically referred to as the incubation period. In this stage, the body is infected with the virus, because of which the symptoms appear, but the amount of virus is too low to be detected in the tested.
COVID symptoms that are being reported currently
Coronavirus signs: Main symptoms of the new fast-spreading COVID variant Eris
Eris or EG.5 is driving COVID cases in the US
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed EG.5, which has been nicknamed as Eris, as a variant of interest. The EG.5 variant originally emerged in November 2021. The WHO said at this time it does not seem to pose more of a threat to public health than other variants and that there "is no evidence of an increase in disease severity directly associated with EG.5." As of now, EG.5 has been detected in more than 50 countries and accounts for 17% of the total COVID cases in the US.
What about its transmission rate?
EG.5 definitely has a growth advantage over other forms of the Omicron variant. Of the total 7,354 sequences submitted to GISAID, the highest number of EG.5 sequences are from China followed by the US, Korea, Japan and Canada.
“While concurrent increases in the proportion of EG.5 and COVID-19 hospitalizations (lower than previous waves) have been observed in countries such as Japan and the Republic of Korea, no associations have been made between these hospitalizations and EG.5. However, due to its growth advantage and immune escape characteristics, EG.5 may cause a rise in case incidence and become dominant in some countries or even globally,” the WHO says.