CATCHING UP ON COVID-19

AS A NEW STRAIN OF CORONAVIRUS EMERGES IN THE UK, WE LOOK AT WHAT IT IS AND HOW WORRIED WE SHOULD BE

- RHONA MERCER

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve become accustomed to new variants of the virus emerging as it mutates and spreads. But last month, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed that the BA.2.86 – which has since been named Pirola – has made its way to the UK and NHS officials have labelled it the “most concerning variant” since Omicron.

Pirola was first detected in Denmark on 24 July and, as we went to press, cases had been recorded in several countries, including the USA and Israel.

But what does this mean for us? Here’s everything you need to know…

SHOULD I BE WORRIED ABOUT IT?

According to Dr Sarah Pitt, a virologist at the University of Brighton, there’s nothing at the moment to suggest that Pirola is “any more dangerous” than previous variants. “The virus changes quite a lot as it goes along. Some of those changes are not good for the virus. A lot of them are just neutral. I don’t expect it to be any more dangerous than any other versions of Covid, except for remembering that it is quite a nasty disease in some people.”

Meanwhile, Professor Christina Pagel, a mathematician from University College London who is a member of the Independent SAGE group, says she’s ”reasonably certain that we have entered another Covid-19 wave”, but that it’s “unlikely this wave will cause a large surge in hospital admissions or deaths” because of the UK’s high rate of vaccinations.