Three cases have now been confirmed in the UK
Doctors have warned that the BA.2.86 may be cause for concern as it is a newly-designed, highly-mutated variant of Omicron, Mirror Online reports. Pirola was first brought to the public’s attention after the UK Health Security Agency published a risk assessment on it citing in particular its "high number of mutation".
None of the cases had a recent travel history, suggesting community transmission within the UK and it was only picked up as all of them were tested as hospital patients. On top of that, some samples of BA.2.86 were found in wastewater according to the latest government release. Possible explanations for Pirola’s emergence include a mass gathering event seeding multiple countries, an ongoing outbreak in a country that isn’t tracking variants, or, worryingly, widespread community transmission that remains undetected despite the efforts of scientists and researchers.
Chief Executive of the UKHSA, Dame Jenny Harries said: "As we continue to live with COVID-19 we expect to see new variants emerge. Thanks to the success of our vaccine programme, we have built strong, broad immune defences against new variants throughout the population. However, some people remain more vulnerable to severe illness from COVID-19.
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