Everything we know about new Covid Pirola strain including symptoms
Questions are being raised about the newest variant of Covid-19 and whether it could evade our vaccines as it hits the UK.
Dubbed Pirola, it's thought the variant is the reason for an increase in coronavirus cases across Europe, including a spike for Brits last week. As a result, the government has brought forward the autumn booster programme by a month and some experts are even calling or face masks to return in hospitals and GP surgeries in a bid to protect the most vulnerable.
It's now been confirmed that in the UK there has been a few dozen cases in the last few days - but should people be concerned? The Pirola variant has been described as the "most striking strain of Covid-19 since Omicron" by some UK scientists. And others have questioned whether or not the latest variant will be able to evade the jabs we've previously had, MailOnline reports.
This strain - which has the scientific named of BA.2.86 - is a descendant of Omicron but has 35 mutations as part of the virus which the vaccines are designed to target, known as the spike protein. There are also mutations that might help Pirola evade the natural protection we have from our immune system. It means people's immunity isn't as high as it should be and we could see another large wave of infections and increase in people becoming seriously ill.
The autumn booster rollout is set to be moved forward by a month (PA)The University of Nottingham virologist Professor Jonathan Ball explained: "Pirola has made people sit up because of the unusually large number of mutations. Viruses naturally mutate to survive. But when there's 30 or more mutations, scientists need to ask what that means. Does it make vaccines less effective, could it transmit more easily than Omicron and does it cause more serious disease?"
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The Department of Health and Social Care has now moved the roll out of autumn boosters forward by a month in an attempt to get on top of the rising cases of the new strain. It means the most at-risk individuals could receive their jabs sooner than planned. Health officials and ministers believe this will help reduce pressure on the health service, while Pirola is investigated even more.
A small number of studies have been done on it already, with early results showing Pirola is likely to be less infectious than previous Omicron variants and may not evade the immune system or vaccine as some believe. However, due to low numbers of cases so far, this hasn't been proven yet. The UK Health Security Agency has confirmed 36 cases in the UK so far – 28 of these from one care home. Five patients were hospitalised.
Speaking about whether or not people will be able to tell if they had the new variant or not, Prof Ball said: "Tests won't tell you what strain you have, but if you have Covid – regardless of the strain – the tests are designed to find it."
It's thought most people will still have some immunity from Covid even if they have have not been eligible for a vaccine since the mass rollouts in 2021. Although vaccine immunity does wane over time, many people have also been infected by the virus and this in itself offers broader protection.
Professor Ball added: "Both vaccination and natural infection help protect us against severe disease by creating immunity with antibodies. That means most people can expect a relatively mild infection if they get Pirola. When the virus first emerged, we saw lots of deaths and complications, such as long Covid, but those have fallen dramatically, and that's partly because of the vaccines and natural immunity. Covid variants can still cause problems but they shouldn't be near the scale we saw in 2020.
There are still some questions remaining over whether over 65s who were due to get their autumn booster will gain immunity from this newest strain. Scientists are still investigating Pirola, but the most recent vaccines have been updated to include another Omicron descendent - XBB.1.5 - which has been around since the beginning of the year. Pfizer and Moderna said last week their updated vaccines generated 'strong responses' against the new Pirola strain in the lab.
Hospital figures have shown than the number of beds occupied by people with Covid has risen 15 per in a week - to around 2,500 out of a total 140,000 beds. Most recent figures show larger rises in the South West, around 42%, the North West, 25%, and in the North East and Yorkshire at 23%.
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