And when you think there are no more, there are still some. The Covid and its multiple variants never stop coming and going in the world. The youngest is called “Eris”, from its official name E.G.5.1. This sub-variant of Omicron is now the majority in France.
In its last official bulletin of August 8, Public Health France indicated a drop in the number of emergency rooms and hospitalizations in children (-6% and -7%) and stable figures in adults. On the other hand, visits for suspected Covid-19 infection are on the rise: 25% among 15-74 year olds. Should we be worried about it?
In a bulletin dated August 9, the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that the E.G.5 variant was first detected on February 17. Classified as a “variant of interest” by the WHO, it is now a subvariant, E.G.5.1 “Eris”, which accounts for 88% of the available sequences.
“Globally, there has been a steady increase in the proportion of EG.5 reported. During the week […] of July 17-23, 2023, the global prevalence of EG.5 was 17.4%. This is a notable increase from data reported four weeks prior, when the global prevalence of EG.5 was 7.6%,” explains the WHO. As of August 7, the most affected countries were China (30.6%), the United States (18.4%) and South Korea (14.1%).
Here’s the latest variant picture for France. The new EG.5.* “Eris” variant (34%) has been rising quite rapidly during July, and is now dominant over XBB.1.9.* “Hyperion” (22%), XBB.1.16.* “Arcturus” (14%) and XBB.1.5.* “Kraken” (14%). More details:https://t.co/9wVn5KDCmN pic.twitter.com/u0AOISy8Ck
In France, the share of E.G.5 was 1.6%. However, “since the end of June, Covid surveillance has been operating in degraded mode and is based on very approximate indicators”, regrets the epidemiologist, now retired, Catherine Hill. After the Bayonne festivities from July 26 to 30, the city’s pharmacies carried out antigenic tests in large numbers, many of which came back positive. With 1.3 million people gathered and often glued to each other, has the capital of the Basque Country turned into a giant cluster?
The WHO assesses the global health risk as low with the Eris variant: “No change in disease severity has been reported to date. While a simultaneous increase in hospitalizations and the proportion of the Eris variant was observed in Japan or South Korea, “no association has been established.” But in view of its greater contagion, an increase in incidence may be observed in countries where the Eris variant will become dominant. The symptoms remain the same as for the previous variants: fever, cough, headache, body aches…
If the virus is more easily transmitted in winter, Covid-19 is not seasonal. “It’s not very true”, underlines Catherine Hill, who recalls that the Covid and its variants arrive in waves, as in July 2021, then in November 2022 or even in July 2022. Faced with the relaxation of the monitoring of the virus, the epidemiologist argues for monitoring sewer water, “an effective and inexpensive solution”, to inexpensively monitor the development of the Eris variant.