COVID: Roughly one in 58 in the UK have coronavirus right now, says report as Pirola spreads

There are around 1.15 million people in the UK with the coronavirus right now – roughly one in 58, the DailyMail reported citing findings from the ZOE app. The alarming numbers come as Pirola or the new Covid BA.2.86 variant, is spreading faster across the UK. "A spin-off of Omicron, just four cases have officially been detected in the UK, although far fewer tests are now conducted," the report adds. The number of cases have been derived from PCR and LFT test data, ZOE app has said.

As per the data available in the ZOE app, the number of COVID infections has increased by 50,000 in September from August. As on September 2, a total of 93,432 cases were traced by ZOE. These are the symptomatic cases; which means these are the cases where the individuals show symptoms while in many cases individuals do not.

While Pirola is generating huge concern worldwide, the World Health Organisation (WHO) still keeps an eye on it as a "variant of interest". BA.2.86 was first detected in late July in Denmark and was then seen in the US. So far, officially, only four cases of Pirola has been detected so far in the UK. BA.2.86 has 35 mutations on its spike protein, which is the main part of the virus which the vaccines target.

The common symptoms seen in individuals these days are runny nose, headache, fatigue, sore throat, fever and persistent cough. As per a study published in the Nature journal, BA.2 which is the ancestor of the Pirola had cold-like symptoms like runny nose and sneezing. Until now, Pirola has been behaving in the same manner as its ancestors.

While no such reports have come to the fore, the mutations and genetic makeover of the virus is a serious concern for health agencies. On the severity of the virus, the UK Health Security Agency had said last week that'it will take a period of several weeks to grow the virus and confirm its biological properties'. "At this time, locations where this variant have been detected have not experienced increases in transmission indicators (e.g., cases, emergency department visits) or hospitalizations out of proportion to those seen in neighboring locations," US CDC had said on August 23. It has not yet been categorised as the "variant of concern" by WHO.

As of now, the existing preventive measures against COVID-19 are effective against the new variant. Washing hands with soap, wearing masks, and avoiding touching contaminated surfaces are sufficient measures to keep the virus from spreading from an unhealthy individual to a healthy individual.

​COVID cases rise as Pirola variant spreads to two more countries; symptoms you need to be aware of​