Nearly seven years after it first emerged, a new strain of Covid-19 spreading around the world highlights the lingering and evolving threat posed by the virus, reports The National.
While the new variant – PJ.2.1 – does not appear to be any more harmful than previous types, doctors said it is accounting for a greater proportion of cases, and remains a threat to vulnerable people.
About 780m infections and 7m deaths linked to Covid-19 have been reported globally to date, although the number of new cases has declined significantly.
Since being identified in May in North America, PJ.2.1 has achieved “rapid intercontinental spread”, according to a study by Chinese scientists released in September.
Another study suggested this ability to bind to ACE2 could be accounting for the variant’s rapid spread across the globe.
The same research reported that it was more effective than other variants at binding to ACE2, a receptor to which the virus attaches so that it can enter cells.
Wam, the official UAE news agency, quoted Professor Elena Malinnikova, of the Russian Medical Academy of Continuing Professional Education, as saying that PJ.2.1 may cause more severe throat infections than other variants, and could result in more prolonged fatigue.
While PJ.2.1 has many mutations on its spike protein, the structure the virus uses to bind to cells, the variant is not thought to be better at evading the human immune system.
Remaining vigilant
However, Dr Asher Jamal, an emergency physician at NMC Royal Hospital Sharjah, cautioned against over-reacting to the spread of new variants.
“New variants will continue to emerge but so far there’s no convincing evidence that they’re causing more severe illness, or need a different treatment regimen or pose an imminent threat,” he said. “We still need to keep an eye on them but I don’t think there’s a reason for unnecessary alarm.”
He said that Covid “is still around”, but hospitals were not seeing the same severity or pressure on healthcare services as during the pandemic, “and overall, the life-threatening pneumonia and long-term complications aren’t something we’re coming across in the emergency department”.
PJ.2.1 was identified in Ontario, Canada, at the beginning of May this year, and detected in the US in New York at the end of June.
It has also been identified in Australia, Singapore and Spain.
Cases rise but no need to panic
Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases specialist and professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia in the UK, said PJ.2.1 appeared to be “on the up” but that there was no evidence it causes more severe disease, higher hospitalisation rates or greater mortality than other circulating variants.
He warned, however, that it was not possible to predict with certainty what would happen with new variants. Although numbers are down from last year, he said Covid-19 was “still putting people in hospital”.
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