The New Omicron Variant Is Called Centaurus. British Virologists Warn Against Its Rapid Spread

Virologists warn against the spread of the new omicron variant BA.2.75. They have given it the mythological name "centaurus". To date, cases of the mutation have been discovered in ten countries, including India, Great Britain, the USA, Australia, Germany and Canada. According to The Guardian, British MPs used the rapid spread of the centaur to call for the vaccination of more than three million citizens of the United Kingdom, who have not yet done so.

The "centaurus" variant was first discovered in India at the beginning of May and is characterized by an increased speed of spread compared to the dominant BA.2 and BA.5 variants. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) officially began monitoring the centaurus variant on July 7. The occurrence and spread of the variant is also monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO), who claims that at the moment there are not enough samples to assess its severity.

The quickly changing coronavirus has spawned yet another super contagious Omicron mutant that’s worrying scientists https://t.co/8r6dLjCYOd

— TIME (@TIME) July 13, 2022

Virologist from the British University of Leeds, Stephen Griffin, assumes that centaurus can, establish itself as a successful virus line in the future, due to the ability to create a lot of mutations.

Tom Pecock from Imperial College London, who was one of the first to warn of the danger of the omicron in November 2021, clarifies: "It is not so much the exact mutations, but rather their number and combinations (...) It is difficult to predict the impact of a number of mutations that appear simultaneously . It gives the virus a somewhat 'wild' quality, where the sum of the parts can be worse than the parts individually. It is certainly a potential candidate for the successor of the BA.5 variant."

In connection with the variability of the coronavirus, British virologists call for the creation of longer-term preventive plans in addition to vaccination. They suggest improving the ventilation, filtration and sterilization of indoor spaces in buildings or reevaluating the length of the isolation period for the infected.