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Currently, the world is facing the threat from fast-growing Omicron sub-variants. New COVID-19 variant BQ.1 is spreading in Europe and the US.
The first outbreak of COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was reported at Wuhan city of China in early December 2019. With the virus spreading rapidly across the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) then declared it a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. As of October 14, 2022, the WHO has recorded 620, 878, 405 confirmed cases, including 6, 543, 138 deaths. Although COVID-19 death rates have reduced following the launch of vaccines, experts have been warning about the possibility of future waves of the pandemic. In fact, the rising number of daily cases in some countries, including Canada and Germany, are pointing towards a resurgence of the viral disease.
In the week ending October 8, Canada recorded 20,002 new Covid-19 cases, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) confirmed on Friday. The country’s total caseload now stands at 4,293,273 including 45,689 deaths, it stated.
The country is also witnessing an increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations. As reported by the Agency, the total number of people admitted with Covid-19 increased from 5,070 to 5,373 between October 3-10.
In Germany, federal states have been asked to reintroduce stricter requirements for wearing face masks as COVID-19 number continues to rise.
As per media reports, the country recorded around 114,000 new cases on Friday. The number of patients requiring treatment in ICU also increased to 1,683 on Friday (around 300 more than one week ago, news agencies reported quoting the German Intensive Care Availability Register (DIVI).
India recorded 2,430 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, as per the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday morning.
New Covid variant BQ.1 spreading in Europe and the US
Currently, the world is facing the threat of new Omicron sub-variants such as BQ.1, BQ.1.1, BA.5, BF.7 and BA.5.1.7
While BA.5 remains the dominant lineage in the US, the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. variants are fast growing in the country; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated.
According to the agency, BQ.1 now accounts for one in 10 COVID cases in the US. This new Omicron variant has already overtaken many rival strains in European nations like England and Germany.
The CDC estimates suggest that BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 each make up an 5.7 per cent of current infections in the country.
Meanwhile, China is dealing with the Omicron sub-variants BF.7 and BA.5.1.7, which are believed to be highly infectious with greater transmissibility.
