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Recently, the number of cases of the new coronavirus variant EG.5 has been on the rise in many places around the world, and the World Health Organization has listed EG.5 as a “variant that needs attention”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday (local time) that it has classified the new coronavirus variant EG.5 as “of concern.”

According to reports, the World Health Organization said on the 9th that it is tracking several new coronavirus variants, including the new coronavirus variant EG.5, which is currently circulating in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Maria van Khove, WHO technical lead for COVID-19, said EG.5 had increased transmissibility but was no more severe than other Omicron variants.

According to the report, by assessing the transmission capacity and mutation capacity of the virus variant, the mutation is divided into three categories: “under surveillance” variant, “need to pay attention to” variant and “need to pay attention to” variant.

Who Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “The risk remains of a more dangerous variant that could lead to a sudden increase in cases and deaths.”

What is EG.5? Where is it spreading?

EG.5, a “descendant” of the new coronavirus Omikrin subvariant XBB.1.9.2, was first detected on February 17 this year.

The virus also enters human cells and tissues in a similar way to XBB.1.5 and other Omicron variants. On social media, users have named the mutant “Eris” according to the Greek alphabet, but this is not officially endorsed by the WHO.

Since the beginning of July, EG.5 has caused an increasing number of COVID-19 infections, and the World Health Organization listed it as a “need to monitor” variant on July 19.

As of August 7, 7,354 EG.5 gene sequences from 51 countries have been uploaded to the Global Initiative for Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), including the United States, South Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal and Spain.

In its latest assessment, WHO referred to EG.5 and its closely related subvariants, including EG.5.1. According to the UK Health Safety Authority, EG.5.1 now accounts for about one in seven cases detected by hospital tests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that EG.5, which has been circulating in the United States since April and is now responsible for about 17 percent of new infections, has surpassed other subvariants of Omicron to become the most common variant. Coronavirus hospitalizations are on the rise across the United States, with hospitalizations up 12.5 percent to 9,056 in the latest week, according to the federal health agency.

The vaccine still protects against EG.5 infection!

EG.5.1 has two important additional mutations that XBB.1.9.2 does not, namely F456L and Q52H, while EG.5 only has the F456L mutation. The extra small change in EG.5.1, the Q52H mutation in the spike protein, gives it an advantage over EG.5 in terms of transmission.

The good news is that currently available treatments and vaccines are still expected to be effective against the mutant strain, according to a CDC spokesperson.

Us Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen said the updated vaccine in September would provide protection against EG.5 and that the new variant did not represent a major shift.

The UK Health Safety Authority says vaccination remains the best defence against future coronavirus outbreaks, so it remains important that people get all the vaccines they are eligible for as soon as possible.