New Covid-19 variants taking over as BA.4 and BA.5 account for 42% of cases

Two new Covid-19 variants now account for over 40 per cent of cases in Ireland, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

The two sublineages of Covid-19, known as BA.4 and BA.5, are replacing the previously dominant Omicron variant, BA.2, it says.

With BA.4 and BA.5 accounting for 42 per cent of cases last week, it added, they are likely to be the cause of the increased circulation of the virus seen in recent weeks.

“BA.4 and BA.5 are becoming the dominant variants in circulation across several European countries. This is likely to be due to their ability to evade immune protection caused by prior infection and/or vaccination, particularly if this immunity has waned over time,: the HSE infection surveillance arm said. “There is currently no indication of any change in infection severity compared to previous Omicron lineages.”

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The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) says no significant increase in infection severity is expected as BA.4/BA.5 become the dominant variants, though data is limited. But if cases increase substantially, “some level of increased hospital and ICU admissions is likely to follow,”the HPSC said.

It urged people to self-isolate if they get symptoms, “regardless of the result of an antigen test”.

The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital has almost doubled in a fortnight as the latest wave in the pandemic gathers pace.

There were 355 Covid-19 patients in hospital on Friday morning, up 44 on the previous day, according to the Department of Health. This is the biggest daily rise since mid-April.

The number of hospitalised patients bottomed out at 167 on May 28th but has been rising since.

The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care dropped by three on Friday, to 24.

[ What is going on with Covid-19 in Ireland now? ]

The positivity rate for PCR tests now stands at 22 per cent, compared to 12.1 per cent two weeks ago, in a further indication of rising levels of infection in the community.

According to the HSE, the number of new cases confirmed by PCR tests grew by 12.8 per cent last week, while the number of positive antigen tests increased by 19.9 per cent.

There were 35 virus outbreaks, including 13 in nursing homes; this represents an increased of 14 on the previous week.

The number of new infections remains “broadly stable”, although there has been an increase in positive antigen tests in the last few days, according to chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan, writing in his latest disease update dated June 3rd.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the rise in hospital and ICU cases could be a blip or the start of a summer wave. “Immunity is waning though for sure,” he tweeted, while urging people to get a booster dose against the virus.

Dr Holohan described the burden of Covid-19 on hospitals as “significant but stable” and noted just under half of patients were hospitalised for the virus while the remainder were categorised as being asymptomatic but infectious.

Seventy per cent of hospitalised cases are aged 65 and over, and 36 per cent are unvaccinated.

As of May 21st, there were nine cases of the BA.4 subvariant, less than five BA.5 cases and 56 BA.2.12.1 cases confirmed in Ireland through genomic sequencing, he said.

The prevalence of the dominant BA.2 subvariant appears to have dropped to about 72 per cent, suggesting other variants are on the increase.

According to Dr Holohan, there continue to be “significant” numbers of cases acquired in hospital; 168 in total over three weeks in May.