NOT AGAIN: New COVID Variant Named Nimbus Mysteriously Appears
By Anthony T
I thought COVID was over?
Apparently not.
The WHO has announced that a new COVID variant named Nimbus has appeared in the United States and Europe.
The Hill shared the story more in-depth:
The World Health Organization (WHO) is keeping an eye on a new COVID-19 variant called NB.1.8.1, or “Nimbus,” that has spread across Europe, the Americas and the Western Pacific.
Nimbus is a descendant of the Omicron variant of the virus and was first identified in late January.
Its spike mutations appear to make it more transmissible than other COVID-19 variants, according to the WHO. Spike mutations refer to changes in spike proteins, which sit on the surface of the virus and help it enter healthy cells.
While it is spreading in the U.S. and Canada, along with 20 other countries, it does not appear to be driving an increase in sickness or hospitalization.
In April, NB.1.8.1 sequences made up 10.7 percent of all submitted sequences from confirmed COVID infections, up from 2.5 percent a month earlier, according to a risk evaluation released by the WHO.
One of the symptoms of the new variant is a severe sore throat.