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LONDON. — Covid-19 is still everywhere but hospitalisations seem to be on a downward trajectory.
When virologists took their first peek at XEC, the Covid-19 variant which started to become dominant in the autumn of last year, the early signs were ominous.
The latest descendant of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, XEC had arisen through recombination, a process where two other variants had forged their genetic material together.
Tests seemed to indicate that this would easily allow it to evade the immune protection offered by past infections or the latest iterations of the Covid-19 vaccines, based on the older JN.1 and KP.2 variants. In the US, infectious disease specialists braced themselves for an immediate surge in hospitalisations in the wake of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
But it didn’t happen.
Surveillance testing carried out by measuring Covid in wastewater samples across major cities indicated that XEC was definitely infecting people.
However, the numbers of people actually ending up in hospital was considerably less than previous winters.
Some indications suggest that Covid in 2025 is a milder disease.
The once common symptoms of loss of taste and smell are becoming less common.
Experts have advised that all vulnerable groups should get the latest Covid-19 vaccine, which can provide vital protection against serious illness, hospitalisation and death.
And while XEC seems to cause less severe disease, there’s no guarantee that more severe variants won’t emerge in the future.
This means the threat posed by Covid-19 is far from over and the virus should not be underestimated.
Even when patients are admitted to hospital, the treatment protocols have changed markedly in the last two to three years.
Peter Chin-Hong, a professor in the Health Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, recalls that anticoagulants or blood thinning medications would immediately be administered to lower the chances of clotting, but this is now no longer considered necessary. — BBC.
Online Reporter