What do we know about BA.5 omicron? South Africa already reports an increase in COVID infections – El Financiero

In its weekly report on the pandemic, the World Health Organization (OMS) specified that last week there were 3.8 million new cases and more than 15 thousand deaths.

Nonetheless, cases increased by about a third in Africa and 13 percent in the Americas. There was also a 70 percent increase in reported deaths in India, although that was due to delayed reporting and not a sudden spread of the disease.

Last week, authorities in South Africa detected an increase in COVID-19 cases caused by the subvariante BA.5 of the omicron and this is what we know:

• The new sublineage of omicron show the ability to evade antibodies from previous infections and vaccines, a study from South African laboratory.
• Blood samples from people who had been infected with the original omicron variant saw a nearly eight-fold drop in neutralizing antibody production when tested against sublineages BA.4 and BA.5.
• The vaccines are effective against the new omicron sub-variants that have driven the surge in Covid-19 cases in South Africa, the WHO chief said.
• The BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants account for around 5% and 6% of cases sequenced in South Africa.
• The symptoms of the new strain are very similar to those of the ‘stealth’ or BA.2 variant: cough, nasal congestion and fatigue for about four days.
• BA.5 has been detected in 13 countries and five US states.

Cognitive damage from severe COVID equals 20 years of aging: new study

The cognitive impairment how consequence of severe COVID-19 es similar to that suffered between 50 and 70 yearsand is equivalent to losing 10 IQ points, according to new research by a team of scientists from the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London (UK), in a study published in the journal eClinicalMedicine.

There is increasing evidence that COVID can cause cognitive and mental health problems lasting, and recovered patients have noted symptoms including fatigue, “brain fog”trouble remembering words sleep disordersanxiety, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) months after infection.

In the UK, a study found that one in seven people surveyed reported having symptoms that included cognitive difficulties 12 weeks after a positive COVID-19 test. Likewise, another recent brain imaging study found that even mild COVID can cause the brain shrinks. Only 15 of the 401 people in the study had been hospitalized.

With information from AP, EFE, The Conversation and Bloomberg.

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