Should we be worried about Centaur, the new Omicron version? “It could very quickly spread around the world”

Certainly covid is not over yet. After a spike in cases for a few days, a new form of coronavirus could be causing our downfall and damage to our winters. The BA.2.75 version, commonly referred to as a “centaur”, is not actually a new covid version, but a newer version of Omicron BA.2, which has been in Europe and a large part of the world since the start of the pandemic. has been effective. ,

At this time, scientists have not been able to prove that the centaur is more virulent or causes any other symptoms than the Omicron variant that we know of. On the other hand, preliminary research has shown that it may be more resistant to antibodies.

“I hope this is just a false alarm,” cell biologist Ulrich Elling explained on Twitter, “but I don’t like the mutations we’re seeing in this case.”

This new variant surfaced in India where it was found to be spreading very fast. The first cases have also been observed in Japan, Australia, the United States or other countries close to us, including Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Germany. “No infections have been seen in our country yet, but it is getting closer”Flemish biostatistician Geert Mollenbergs explained to Nieuwsblad.

Yet, according to him, it is only a matter of time as the centaur will quickly spread among the population: “After rapidly spreading in India, we should see it spreading rapidly across the world this holiday season”Before qualifying somewhat, the scientist continued, saying that it is still too early to know whether this new version of Omron could become the dominant version in our country this fall.