Virologist, Cillian de Gascon, said Irish scientists will begin to investigate where the new Covid-19 virus has been infected and whether it is causing more serious disease.
He said the new mutated form of the delta coronary variant – classified as a «variant under investigation» by UK health authorities – had been detected in more than 80 cases.
The new AY.4.2 variant accounts for 6 per cent of Covid-19 cases in the UK, but is said to be 10 to 15 per cent more transmissible than the delta variant prevalent in Ireland and Britain.
There is no evidence yet to suggest that the variant causes more disease in the people it infects or makes Covid-19 vaccines ineffective, but it may have increased case numbers in Britain.
The UK Health Security said early evidence suggests that the delta variant may have increased the rate of growth in the UK compared to the original delta variant.
It has not yet been defined as a ‘variable of concern’ – the higher risk category of variants.
Dr. de Gascon, director of the UCLA National Virology Reference Laboratory, said the new variant AY.4.2 «does not drive» the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in the state since it accounts for less than 2 percent of 4,000 cases. Cases checked in September.
“It is important that we monitor these things because a more transmissible virus, if and when it becomes prevalent, will lead to more cases, which obviously could affect hospitalizations,” said Dr. de Gascon, a member of the National Public Health Emergency Team. Something we need to watch, but it is normal for the virus to continue to evolve.»
He said British evidence appeared to show the variant had a «slightly increased rate of growth» but that this was based on «reasonably small numbers» of the variable for the 50,000 new coronavirus cases reported each day in Britain.
«This alternative is still a minority in the UK. It’s definitely a minority type here. Are you going to become dominant?» Dr de Gascon said, by the sheer weight of the numbers, if it’s more transmissible and if it continues to be transmitted, it will be and it just comes down to how long it will take that.
He said the variant did not appear to increase transmissibility as much as the alpha variant, which was first discovered in the UK, last year, or the delta variant, which was first found in India.
The alpha variant that caused Ireland’s third wave in January and February, the most severe of the epidemic, was about 50 percent more transmissible than the original virus that spread from Wuhan in China, while the delta variant was more transmissible. to move by 60 percent. which – which.
Dr. de Gascon said scientists will look at where Delta Plus cases are geographically located and what age groups are affected along with disease severity to better understand the variant.
«It’s similar to what they would do in the UK but in much lower numbers overall, so it will take longer to reach our conclusions because of the small number of cases we have,» he said.