Kerry Chant Issues Warning Regarding New Coronavirus Wave With New Omicron Variant XBB in Covid-19 Australia
One of Australia’s leading medical authorities has issued a warning that two new Omicron variations are sweeping the country and could cause another surge of Covid-19 infections.
Kerry Chant, the chief health officer for NSW, repeated worries from her counterparts in other states that sub-variants BQ. 1 and XBB would spread rapidly and quickly replace BA.5 as the predominant strain in Australia.
Australia has been devastated by the XBB strain, which just surfaced in Singapore and has seen a tenfold increase in cases in a matter of weeks. XBB has been nicknamed the “horror strain” and the “most vaccine-resistant ever” by some international experts.
The discovery of a previously unrecognized Covid side effect on the brain—which experts have dubbed a “silent killer”—by researchers at the University of Queensland’s School of Biomedical Science is what sparked the news.
With the introduction of two new types, Covid cases are predicted to increase once more in the upcoming weeks. Crowds at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse from a month ago are depicted.
Dr. Chant issued the following warning in a video message: “We’re starting to notice a spike in Covid-19 cases and alterations in the variations circulating in NSW, which tells us that we’re entering the next Covid wave.”
XBB has been nicknamed the “horror strain” and the “most vaccine-resistant ever” by some international experts.
The discovery of a previously unrecognized Covid side effect on the brain—which experts have dubbed a “silent killer”—by researchers at the University of Queensland’s School of Biomedical Science is what sparked the news.
With the introduction of two new types, Covid cases are predicted to increase once more in the upcoming weeks. Crowds at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse from a month ago are depicted.
Dr. Chant issued the following warning in a video message: “We’re starting to notice a spike in Covid-19 cases and alterations in the variations circulating in NSW, which tells us that we’re entering the next Covid wave.”
Her warning comes in the wake of research published on Thursday by the University of Queensland School of Biomedical Science showing that Covid-19 triggers a similar inflammatory response in the brain as Parkinson’s disease.
Their research has been made public in the academic journal Molecular Psychiatry. We looked at how the virus affected the immune cells known as “microglia” in the brain, which are crucial to understanding how diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s progress.
Kerry Chant, the chief health officer for NSW, predicts that the future prevalent Covid strains in Australia will be sub-variants BQ. 1 and XBB.
In the lab, our researchers expanded human microglia and exposed the cells to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The cells actually “became angry,” turning on the same route that Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s proteins can activate, we discovered.
It sets off a “fire” in the brain that causes a “chronic and continuous” process of neuron death. Dr. Albornoz Balmaceda continued, “It’s kind of a quiet killer since you don’t see any external indications for many years.”
It could explain why some individuals who have had Covid-19 are more prone to experiencing neurological symptoms resembling those of Parkinson’s disease. People with Covid symptoms have been advised by health officials to stay at home while ill. Commuters at Sydney’s Central train station are pictured.
In the week ending October 28, NSW reported 9707 cases, a rise of 11.4% from the week before. A total of 227 cases, including 18 in intensive care, and 17 recorded deaths, were admitted to the hospital. According to the most recent NSW Health report, which was released on Thursday, “there are multiple subvariants of the virus circulating and BA.4 and BA.5 dominance is reducing (63%).
We are constantly watching S-gene target and sequencing data with respect to the BA.2 sub-lineages, as well as other newly emerging variants.
The two new variations appeared following the recent removal of the last remaining Covid limitations (pictured, a Sydneysider being swabbed at a drive-through clinic)
Health experts in Victoria are concerned about “the beginning of another Covid-19 wave” after Covid cases increased by almost 25% in a week and hospitalizations by 20%.
According to Victoria’s chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton, surveillance “shows the presence of multiple Omicron subvariants in Victoria, including the rapid growth of (the Omicron subvariant) BQ. 1 and XBB in the past month, with a combined prevalence of approximately 10% in wastewater and clinical sample.”
Victorians are urged to remember that vaccination, masks, ventilation, testing, staying home when ill, and COVID-19 treatments are highly effective at reducing transmission, illness, and deaths and also protect the health system as case numbers are on the rise locally and globally, particularly in Europe and South-East Asia.
The Sunshine State may soon suffer another wave of the virus, according to Dr. John Gerrard, a Queensland colleague. He predicted that the virus would probably always be around. Our epidemiologists find it challenging at this time to forecast the pandemic’s future behavior.
Leading authorities on infectious diseases predict that in the three years since the pandemic reached Australia in January 2020, 80% of Australians had contracted Covid.
Health authorities in Victoria last week warned of “the onset of another COVID-19 wave” with the “rapid” proliferation of XBB despite the World Health Organization not yet classified it as a worrying strain.
