Eris emerges as Covid Variant
Mir Sabeen Gulrez
After the decline of the COVID -19 threat , there were many new variants that emerged,although the severity of the disease always remained low. While as a new COVID Variant strain EG.5 – which got more popularly known as Eris has been identified in many countries like in US,Japan,South Korea,China and also Australia, Singapore, UK, France, Portugal and Spain.
When it comes to experts they say there is no need to panic as the new Strain is not more severe than what we have witnessed in the past and doesn’t pose any significant threat
While if we talk about WHO they have designated EG.5 as a variant of interest which means it will be monitored for mutations. While as if we talk about it the Eris spreads fast, and has immune escaping properties, but the symptoms which largely remain mild and similar to the previous Omicron strains. Even Experts say that EG.5 may become a dominant strain in some countries in the coming weeks.
While talking to News Kashmir Magazine Dr Nissar Ul Hassan Doctors Association Kashmir said that,”There is no evidence to suggest that the new variant causes more severe illness,”
Dr Hassan said the EG.5, dubbed as Eris is a sub-variant of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. It is rapidly spreading across the UK and US and has also been reported in China, Europe and Japan.
“The new variant was first detected in India in May 2023 and the fact that there has been no significant increase in the incidence of the new strain since its detection 3 months ago shows that it is not something to be bothered about,” he further added.
Eris, precisely XBB.1.9.2, is a subvariant of the Omicron variant and also Eris shares many of the same symptoms as other COVID-19 variants.
These symptoms are:
1.Fever. 2.Cough. 3.Shortness of breath
4.Fatigue, 5.Muscle or body aches,
6.Sore throat, 7.Congestion and 8. Running nose, 9.Headache, 10. Malaise,11. Loss of smell, 12.diarrhoea, 13.abdominal pain.
And if we talk about Malaise, “Malaise is a general feeling of being unwell. It can be described as feeling tired, weak, or run-down”.
Journalist Mir Sabeen Gulrez through Dr Nissar Ul Hassan President Doctors Association Kashmir – On – Record answered like this,
Dr Hassan said that,”the new variant is basically a sub-lineage of omicron which most of us have gone through and our population has enough immunity against omicron and its sub-variants.
“With high vaccination rates and natural immunity, the possibility of a new wave in our population due to the variant is unlikely,” he said.
Dr Nisar said new variants will keep coming as frequent changes in the genomic structure are part of the natural course of the virus.
“We are going to see the new variant Eris for sometime before it is replaced by yet another variant. That is the nature of the virus,” he said.
While stating further that,” The DAK President said ,“The World Health Organisation (WHO) has added the new variant EG.5 to the list of monitored variants and classified it as a variant of interest and not a variant of concern as it does not pose a threat to public health,” he stated further.
