ALERT: 51 Countries Found new Omicron variant, EG5

Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#USA, August 11, 2023 – A new omicron subvariant, EG5 has become the most dominant in the United States overtaking the BA and XBB strains and is now classified as a Variant of Interest.  It was updated from a Variant under Monitoring on August 9th.   Also called Eris, the variant is responsible for 17 percent of US cases, that’s an increase from 11.9 percent in July and .2 percent in April.

The emergence of EG5 is a reminder that the complex Covid-19 disease is still present and evolving globally, even as testing and vaccinations continue to decrease.

EG5 is also making inroads across the globe.  The World Health Organization says it has almost doubled in global prevalence in four weeks, from 6.2 percent to 11.6 percent; 51 countries have detected the sub-variant.

In the period between July 03rd – 30th, just over a million Covid-19 cases were reported globally and 3,100 deaths logged.

The region of the Americas which includes the Caribbean saw 86,000 of those cases, the second highest number in the world.

Though the US has seen a rise in hospitalizations, experts say there’s no proof of connection between EG5 and the slight increase.