By Linda Naa Deide Aryeetey
Accra, Aug 9. GNA-The World Health Organization Wednesday classified the EG.5 coronavirus strain circulating in the United States and China as a “variant of interest”.
It said the variant was, however, not considered a threat to public health.
The fast-spreading variant has also been detected in South Korea, Japan and Canada, among other countries.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO, said: “Collectively, available evidence does not suggest that EG.5 has additional public health risks relative to the other currently circulating Omicron descendent lineages.”
He said a more comprehensive evaluation of the risk posed by EG.5 was needed.
The Director General said many countries were not reporting COVID-19 data to WHO, stating that only 11 countries had reported hospitalisations and ICU admissions related to the virus.
In response, WHO issued a set of standing recommendations for COVID, in which it urged countries to continue reporting COVID data, particularly mortality data, and morbidity data, and to continue to offer vaccination.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said EG.5 had increased transmissibility but was not more severe than other Omicron variants.
“We have not detected a change in the severity of EG.5 compared to other sublineages of Omicron that have been in circulation since late 2021,” she said.
Van Kerkhove said that the absence of data from many countries was hindering efforts to fight the virus.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
According to the WHO, most people infected with the virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment.
However, some will become seriously ill and require medical attention.
Older people and those with underlying medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or cancer are more likely to develop serious illnesses.
Anyone can get sick with COVID-19 and become seriously ill or die at any age.
COVID-19 has killed more than 6.9 million people globally, with more than 768 million confirmed cases since the virus emerged.
The WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic in March 2020 and ended the global emergency status for COVID-19 in May this year.
GNA