Category: Omicron
France: Deaths up 12% in one week as BA.5 increases its share
All the Covid indicators in France are currently heading in the wrong direction as BA.5 continues to increase its share of sequences. More...
BA.2.75 designated a VUM by both WHO and ECDC *3 updates*
The World Health Organisation and the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) have designated Omicron subvariant BA.2.75 as a variant under monitoring (VUM). More...
Italy: Pediatric hospitalizations due to Covid-19 double in one week
In Italy, 78% of child admissions are currently children under 4 years of age. More...
China: Seven day Covid lockdown in Xi’an
The Chinese city of Xi’an has gone into a seven-day lockdown amid spiralling Covid-19 cases centred on a large trading market. More...
Preprint: Mink can be infected by Omicron and efficiently transmit the virus to other mink
To study whether mink can transmit Omicron, we placed 2 uninfected indirect contact mink in separate cages 10–20 cm from the cages of the infected mink and followed their progress for 10 days. More...
New Zealand: First cases of BA.2.75 detected
The Omicron subvariant BA.2.75 has been detected in New Zealand for the first time. More...
Jenny Harris: Quite likely BA.5 hospitalizations will exceed those of BA.2
Dr Jenny Harris, of the UKHSA, has said in an interview today that it is quite likely that BA.5 hospitalizations will “peak over” those of the Omicron BA.2 wave, meaning that Britain could see the highest hospitalization figures for eighteen months. More...
Preprint: More severe disorders in the lungs of BA.4/BA.5 infected hamsters than those of BA.2
“Here we demonstrated that the Omicron BA.4/5 are more potentially pathogenic than Omicron BA.2. More...
Italy: BA.5 at >60% of SARS-CoV-2 sequences
The proportion of BA.5 increased from 23.74%, in week 23, 2022, to 60.71% in week 25, 2022. More...
Italy: ‘Dangerous increase’ in SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in wastewater of >30%
‘The national trend of SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in wastewater showed a “dangerous increase” (>30%) in SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in the weeks 24 and 25, 2022′. More...