A ‘very transmissible’ COVID-19 variant is spreading across Ireland – and it is 'evolving away' from the strain in the vaccines.
A possible summer wave is emerging as there’s been a spike in people admitted to hospital with new COVID variants.
There are currently 417 people in hospital with COVID, compared to 163 on June 1st.
There has also been a 60% spike in COVID cases overall, according to Trinity College Dublin immunologist Professor Kingston Mills.
The F-Lineage Recombinant Type (FLiRT) group are new variants of COVID that emerged from Omicron.
These variants are “quite mild” compared to earlier COVID variants among healthy people, Prof Mills explained.
“They cause more upper respiratory tract infections than lower,” he told The Pat Kenny Show.
“That's not as dangerous because when it goes into the lung, it can be very severe and can result in pneumonia and death.”
New COVID variants
The FLiRT variants, however, are “very transmissible”, according to Prof Mills – and are evolving to fight the vaccine.
“[The variants] are evolving away from the strain that's in the vaccine,” he said.
“Even though the manufacturers of the vaccines have changed the strain that's in the vaccine, they're one step behind the virus.”
Prof Mills explained the current vaccine is based on the XBB1.5 strain of COVID, which is not the strain circulating in the FLiRT variants.
“The vaccine, while it will prevent severe disease, it won't prevent infection with these viruses,” he said.
Immunity for the future
If you end up with the new variant, however, Prof Mills said it can help you build immunity for the future.
“Obviously, you don't want to get infected if you're very vulnerable,” he said. “But the disease is very mild in healthy individuals.
“So getting the disease, you're actually getting the variant that's circulating, so you're getting good immunity.”
According to Johns Hopkins University, the symptoms of the FLiRT variants are the same as other COVID strains – although they are weaker.
These symptoms include a sore throat, runny nose, cough and shortness of breath – particularly among people who are not vaccinated.
Johns Hopkins said it can take at least five days before symptoms of FLiRT variants emerge.
