Ensuring Covid-19 vaccinations are up-to-date and following basic health and hygiene rules are key to overcoming the latest variant of Covid-19, according to doctors in Bahrain.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) classified EG.5 or ‘Eris’ as a ‘variant of interest’ – while noting that the public health risk posed by the latest strain of the Covid-19 virus is low.
“This new variant is not expected to cause any major outbreaks, hence people in general do not need to panic,” American Mission Hospital (AMH) pulmonology specialist Dr Chellaraja Chellasamy told the GDN.
“The ‘Eris’ or EG.5 and 5.1 variant is a sub variant of the Omicron lineage which seems to have an added single mutation helping it to evade host defences.
“Warning signs may include mild rhinitis, upper respiratory infections and flu-like symptoms with fever, as well as loss of smell and taste.
“Pneumonia seems to be rare. Hospital admissions may be more common in vulnerable population subsets.”
According to the WHO initial risk evaluation issued on Wednesday, out of the 7,354 sequences of EG.5 submitted to Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data by 51 countries, the largest portion are from China, the US, Korea, Japan and Canada.
The organisation also noted in its weekly epidemiological update that while there has been an increase of 80 per cent in new Covid-19 cases globally during the last 28 days, deaths have decreased by 57pc, compared to the previous 28-day time period.
While five of the six WHO regions, including the Eastern Mediterranean region within which Bahrain falls, have reported decreases in the number of both Covid-19 cases and deaths, the Western Pacific region is the only one that has seen an increase in cases. Deaths, however, decreased in this region as well.
“Although there is an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in the last week, there is no reason to panic over the latest variant of the disease,” Royal Bahrain Hospital internal medicine consultant Dr Syed Muneebuddin Ahmed explained.
“The symptoms are similar to that of the flu and patients have been recovering without complications.
“If someone is feeling cold-like or flu symptoms and think they might have the coronavirus disease, they can purchase a rapid test and if it is positive, they can go to a health centre or hospital for the RT-PCR.
“Either way, the symptoms tend to go away in a few days in most cases and patients can do the rapid test again after resolution of symptoms to reconfirm.”
Dr Chellaswamy noted that oral antibiotics may be taken “upon the treating physician’s discretion”.
“The basic principle of management of Covid illness holds good for the new variant too – isolation for three to five days or as long as symptoms get better, hydration, proper diet and prompt visit to a doctor to get symptomatic medications.”
He added that the new variant seems to spread easily and be “slightly more infectious and less lethal than other Omicron variants”.
Both doctors have urged that everyone have up-to-date vaccinations, with Dr Chellaswamy especially cautioning those with immunocompromised systems due to cancer, chemotherapy, uncontrolled diabetes and other comorbidities to update their vaccination status with the Omicron-specific Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
“Caretakers of such patients should ensure they opt for proper personal protective equipment like face mask, gloves, hand sanitisers and of course vaccination,” he added.
He also urged that travel to hotter countries should be avoided or postponed because “studies with the EG.5 variant seem to indicate that hot weather or dry humid conditions seem to favour the spread of the virus”.
As of the time of publication, there has been no change to social distancing precautions or other guidelines by health authorities.
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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