New corona variant: are we going into winter with Centaurus?

‘Much is still unknown, but we do expect to see an increase in this variant’, says virologist Marion Koopmans. ‘We are currently in a wave that may be weakening again. Everything that is emerging now is relevant in the sense that it could become the dominant variant of the autumn.’

Variant BA.2.75, or ‘Centaurus’, as he loosely called, is a new version of the omikron variant that has dominated the corona landscape since last winter. There are no indications that he is making him more seriously or otherwise ill. It does seem that he can escape from antibodies a little better. That could mean that those who recently had corona could become infected again – although most people will not get very sick from it.

summer golf

‘My expectation is that this will not be something like the big jump we had last winter, from the delta to the omikron variant. Rather, you expect a gradual difference, as we have seen in recent months with BA.4 or BA.5’, says Koopmans. Those are the two omikron subspecies that are currently driving the summer wave, as they sometimes reinfect people who already have immunity.

News of BA.2.75 started buzzing this week after scientists noticed that the variant fast advancing in India† The newcomer has also been spotted in Australia, Japan, Canada and the US, among others. Five infections have already been detected in the United Kingdom, two in Germany.

That makes it very plausible that the new variant is already circulating in our country, Koopmans thinks. “There is not much testing going on at the moment. But we also saw the alpha and delta variants, after they were identified in the United Kingdom, quickly appearing in the Rotterdam business region.’

Antibodies

What kind of wave BA.2.75 will give, research will have to show in the coming days and weeks. Crucial here is how well the variant can escape antibodies: a question that will be attempted to be answered by exposing blood samples from immunized people to the virus in the lab.

But judging by the shape of the protrusions and the speed with which BA.2.75 is advancing, international experts not very confident† For example, the newcomer has several mutations in a place where antibodies like to ‘grab’ the virus. “I just hope it’s a false alarm,” Austrian cell biologist Ulrich Elling said in a technical discussion on Twitter. “But I don’t like the mutations we see here.”

The new variant is a descendant of omikron version BA.2 that was dominant in Europe for a short time at the beginning of this year. Like in a knight’s saga full of kings overthrowing each other, BA.2 was supplanted by BA.5 in particular, a variant with three mutations. Now the BA.2 family is once again reaching for power: descendant BA.2.75 has no fewer than eleven building blocks other than BA.5.

Other waterway

‘We are really in different waters. You can see that the pressure on the ICs is fortunately limited’, Koopmans also emphasizes. On the other hand, there are currently about 850 corona patients in hospitals, most of whom corona is actually a reason for admission.

‘I think that’s quite a lot’, says Koopmans. ‘In the winter, a new variant, certainly in combination with the flu, can still lead to a significant increase in the number of patients requiring care.’

Minister Kuipers of Public Health aims that in the autumn society itself will take measures to keep the number of infections in check. ‘Will that have enough effect? I dare not say it’, says Koopmans. ‘The question is whether we should not again call for measures such as working from home or testing prior to certain meetings. We have to take that into account in any case.’