Global Covid-19 cases see 80% rise amid concerns over new EG.5 variant

New Delhi: Following the detection of a new strain of the novel coronavirus, data put out by the World Health Organizations shows an 80 per cent rise in Covid-19 cases around the world.

The variant, known as EG.5 or “Eris”, is related to an Omicron subvariant called XBB.1.9.2, and is growing in prevalence globally, with countries including the UK, China and US among those affected.

In its weekly update, the UN agency said that nations reported nearly 1.5 million new cases from July 10 to August 6, an 80 per cent increase compared to the previous 28 days. However, the number of deaths fell by 57 per cent to 2,500.

The WHO warned that the reported number of cases and deaths do not reflect the true numbers, in part because countries carry out far less testing and monitoring than during earlier stages of the pandemic. Many of the new cases came in the Western Pacific region, which saw infections jump by 137 per cent, the WHO said.

Covid Deaths The highest number of deaths in the last 28-day period were reported from Brazil, Korea, Russia, Peru, and Australia. (Photo: WHO)
Several countries like the United States, United Kingdom, France and Japan have seen a summer uptick in cases in recent weeks.

According to WHO’s data, the highest numbers of new cases reported in the aforesaid period were from the Korea, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, and Italy. The highest numbers deaths were reported from Brazil, Korea, Russia, Peru, and Australia.

“Although the public health emergency of international concern for Covid-19 was declared over on 5 May 2023, it remains a major threat. WHO continues to urge Member States to maintain, not dismantle, their established Covid-19 infrastructure,” the health agency said in a statement.

In India, as of now, there has been only one reported case of the EG.5.1 variant, identified in Pune in May 2023. However, experts say while the WHO has categorised EG.5.1 as a variant under monitoring on July 19 this year, at this point of time there is no need to panic.

The SARS-CoV-2 variant EG.5.1 (alias XBB.1.9.2.5.1), is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant XBB.1.9.2. It has two additional spike mutations (Q52H, F456L) compared to its parent strain lineage. “ERIS is not an official term but used for simplicity. The variant EG.5.1. is a descendent of the XBB variant and seems to have some growth advantage contributing to increase in proportion of SARS-COV-2 infections in most regions of the world,” said Dr Sanjay Pujari , Director, Institute of Infectious Diseases, Pune.

India on Saturday saw a single-day rise of 38 fresh Covid-19 cases, while the active caseload declined to 1,487, according to Union Health Ministry data. The death toll has been recorded at 5,31,920, the data by the Union Health Ministry showed.