Tag: JN.1

Published by: CNN
Published on: August 16, 2024
By Meg Tirrell

The US Food and Drug Administration is poised to sign off as soon as next week on updated Covid-19 vaccines targeting more recently circulating strains of the virus, according to two sources familiar with the matter, as the country experiences its largest summer wave in two years.

The agency is expected to greenlight updated mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech that target a strain of the virus called KP.2, said the sources, who declined to be named because the timing information isn’t public. It was unclear whether the agency simultaneously would authorize Novavax’s updated shot, which targets the JN.1 strain.

The move would be several weeks ahead of last year’s version of the vaccine, which got FDA signoff on September 11.

Comments closed

Quebec

Analysis: Quebec in midst of new COVID-19 summer wave

Published July 7, 2024

Published by: Montreal Gazette
Published on: July 7, 2024
By Aaron Derfel

Quebec is now witnessing — as is the case across North America — an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations, reinforcing the notion that SARS-CoV-2 is still not yet a fully seasonal virus and sending vaccine manufacturers racing to develop COVID shots for this fall that will guard against the latest sub-variants.

The province reported a total of 671 hospitalizations with and for COVID-19 as of July 5. That’s up from a low of 400 such hospitalizations on April 20 in Quebec. The number of patients in emergency rooms testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 is also rising, according to the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ).

More and more Quebecers are testing positive for COVID-19, with the percentage rising to 12.9 per cent as of June 30, according to the INSPQ. That this is occurring during summer suggests that SARS-CoV-2 is still far from a seasonal virus like the flu, a view supported by doctors and experts in the field.

“COVID is not over,” Dr. Susan Kuo, a British Columbia family physician, told the CBC on Friday. “This is the summer. It’s July. It’s not usually a time that we’re seeing so many people that are sick. What this tells us is that COVID is not a seasonal virus.”

Comments closed

California

Summer COVID bump intensifies in L.A. and California, fueled by FLiRT variants

Published June 24, 2024

Published by: Los Angeles Times
Published on: June 24, 2024
By Rong-Gong Lin II

The new COVID-19 subvariants collectively nicknamed FLiRT are continuing to increase their dominance nationwide, fueling a rise in cases in Los Angeles County and growth in the coronavirus levels seen in California wastewater.

Taken together, the data point to a coronavirus resurgence in the Golden State — one that, while not wholly unexpected given the trends seen in previous pandemic-era summers, has arrived earlier and is being driven by even more transmissible strains than those previously seen.

It remains unclear how bad the COVID situation may get this summer, however. Doctors have said that by the Fourth of July, we may have a better feel for how the rest of the season will play out.

Comments closed

Singapore

Singapore facing new Covid-19 wave; vaccination recommended especially for seniors: Ong Ye Kung

Published May 18, 2024

Published by: The Straits Times
Published on: May 18, 2024
By Chin Soo Fang

Singapore is seeing a new Covid-19 wave, with rising cases of infection in the last two weeks, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on May 18.

“We are at the beginning part of the wave where it is steadily rising,” said Mr Ong. “So I would say the wave should peak in the next two to four weeks, which means between mid- and end of June.”

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that to protect hospital bed capacity and as a precaution, public hospitals have been asked to reduce their non-urgent elective surgery cases and move suitable patients to facilities like transitional care facilities or back home through Mobile Inpatient Care@Home.

Comments closed

variants

New virus variants threaten a summer Covid-19 wave, but experts say the risk remains uncertain

Published May 17, 2024

Published by: CNN
Published on: May 17, 2024
By Deidre McPhillips

Covid-19 levels are about the lowest they’ve ever been in the United States, but another new crop of virus variants once again threatens to disrupt the downward trend as the country heads into summer.

KP.2 — one of the so-called FLiRT variants — has overtaken JN.1 to become the dominant coronavirus variant in the United States, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data through May 11 shows that it’s responsible for more than a quarter of cases in the country, which is nearly twice as many as JN.1. A related variant, KP.1.1, has caused about 7% of cases, CDC data shows.

Comments closed

mortality rate

Four Years On, Covid-19 Remains a Worse Killer Than the Flu, US Study Finds

Published May 15, 2024

Published by: Bloomberg
Published on: May 15, 2024
By Jason Gale

We did the 2024 Covid-versus-flu rematch thinking that we may find that risk of death in Covid may have sufficiently declined to become equal with the risk of death from flu. But the reality remains that Covid carries a higher risk of death than the flu. […]

Overall, I think this means that we still need to take Covid seriously. Trivializing it as an inconsequential ‘cold,’ as we often hear, doesn’t mesh or align with reality.

— Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly

Comments closed

‘FLiRT’ COVID-19 subvariant dominant in Canada. What to know about the strain

Electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles. Virus particles are shown emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. Image captured and colourized at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. Photo by: NIAID. Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.

variants

‘FLiRT’ COVID-19 subvariant dominant in Canada. What to know about the strain

Published May 10, 2024

Published by: Global News
Published on: May 10, 2024
By Katie Dangerfield

Canada’s lull in COVID-19 cases faces a potential disruption with the emergence of a new family of subvariants, playfully dubbed the ‘FLiRT’ variants.

These genetic cousins, originating from JN.1, the Omicron subvariant that fuelled the winter surge, are now spreading nationwide, with one variant, KP.2, quickly gaining dominance in Canada.

KP.2 is the dominant subvariant of the JN.1 strain, explained Gerald Evans, an infectious disease specialist at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. As of April 28, national data shows that KP.2 accounted for 26.6 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in Canada, surpassing other JN.1 subvariants.

Comments closed

variants

What to Know About the ‘FLiRT’ Variants of COVID-19

Published April 29, 2024

Published by: Time
Published on: April 29, 2024
By Jamie Ducharme

The COVID-19 lull in the U.S. may soon come to an end, as a new family of SARS-CoV-2 variants—nicknamed “FLiRT” variants—begins to spread nationwide. These…

Comments closed

vaccines

New estimates show latest COVID vaccine cuts risk of symptomatic infection

Published February 1, 2024

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: February 1, 2024
By Stephanie Soucheray

Today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, researchers published findings showing adults who received an updated 2023-24 COVID-19 vaccine were 54% less likely to have symptomatic infection than those who didn’t, and the vaccine was found to protect against JN.1 and other circulating variants.

This is one of the first studies to update 2023-24 COVID vaccine effectiveness (VE) data. The monovalent (single-strain) booster vaccine derived from XBB.1.5 was approved for use in all Americans 6 months and older on September 12, 2023, but uptake has been low. Moreover, the XBB strains of the virus, which the vaccine was based on, are no longer the dominant strains in the United States, having been replaced by JN.1 in December 2023.

Comments closed

New Brunswick

COVID-19 kills 3 more in N.B., new variant JN.1 appears poised to become dominant

Published January 30, 2024

Published by: CBC News
Published on: January 30, 2024
By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon

COVID-19 has killed three more New Brunswickers and a new subvariant, JN.1, appears to be on its way to taking over as the dominant strain in the province.

COVID-19 activity remains “moderate,” according to Tuesday’s Respiratory Watch report. Most indicators remained “stable” throughout the reporting period, Jan. 14 to Jan. 20, it says.

The flu has killed two more people, but influenza activity decreased during the reporting week, with the number of new cases dropping back to historical averages, the report shows.

Comments closed

Alberta

Latest COVID-19 variant wrestles its way to the top in Alberta

Published January 10, 2024

Published by: CBC News
Published on: January 10, 2024
By Jennifer Lee

A new COVID-19 variant appears to be on its way to taking over in Alberta, with one expert predicting it likely already accounts for the lion’s share of the province’s cases.

JN.1 is an offshoot of BA.2.86, which has evolved, like many of its predecessors, to better evade our immune defences.

It is now the dominant strain in Canada. Data from the Public Health Agency of Canada shows it accounted for about 66 per cent of COVID-19 cases nationwide by the end of December.

Comments closed

JN.1

Holiday gatherings and a new variant have driven up COVID cases globally, the UN health agency says

Published January 10, 2024

Published by: The Associated Press
Published on: January 10, 2024

The head of the U.N. health agency said Wednesday holiday gatherings and the spread of the most prominent variant globally led to increased transmission of COVID-19 last month.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said nearly 10,000 deaths were reported in December, while hospital admissions during the month jumped 42% in nearly 50 countries — mostly in Europe and the Americas — that shared such trend information.

Comments closed

JN.1 is Canada’s new dominant COVID-19 subvariant. Here’s what to know

This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (yellow), isolated from a patient in the United States, emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab. Image captured and colourized at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. Credit: NIAID.

JN.1

JN.1 is Canada’s new dominant COVID-19 subvariant. Here’s what to know

Published January 5, 2024

Published by: Global News
Published on: January 5, 2024
By Katie Dangerfield

A new COVID-19 subvariant, known as JN.1, has emerged and is now the prevailing strain across Canada, prompting health experts to caution that it may be more infectious and could even have extra symptoms.

Currently, the subvariant makes up the highest proportion of all COVID-19 variants, accounting for more than half (51.9 per cent) of all infections in Canada, according to the latest data from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

JN.1 was first detected in Canada on Oct. 9, and since then has rapidly increased.

Comments closed

pandemic response

Opinion: The U.S. is facing the biggest COVID wave since Omicron. Why are we still playing make-believe?

Published January 4, 2024

Published by: Los Angeles Times
Published on: January 4, 2024
By Eric J. Topol

The pandemic is far from over, as evidenced by the rapid rise to global dominance of the JN.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2. This variant is a derivative of BA.2.86, the only other strain that has carried more than 30 new mutations in the spike protein since Omicron first came on the scene more than two years ago. This should have warranted designation by the World Health Organization as a variant of concern with a Greek letter, such as Pi.

By wastewater levels, JN.1 is now associated with the second-biggest wave of infections in the United States in the pandemic, after Omicron. We have lost the ability to track the actual number of infections since most people either test at home or don’t even test at all, but the very high wastewater levels of the virus indicate about 2 million Americans are getting infected each day.

Comments closed

Waterloo Region

COVID-19 outbreaks on the rise in Waterloo Region

Published December 29, 2023

Published by: Waterloo Region Record
Published on: December 29, 2023

The number of active COVID-19 outbreaks in high-risk settings increased by more than 50 per cent this past week, according to the Waterloo Region public health unit’s weekly dashboard update.

There are 15 outbreaks in high-risk settings — up from seven last week — including two in congregate settings, such as group homes or shelters, one in hospital and 12 in long-term care/retirement homes.

One new death was reported. So far this year, COVID-19 has been a direct or contributing cause in 41 deaths reported by public health in the region.

Comments closed

United States

CDC says JN.1 variant accounts for 39%-50% of COVID cases in US

Published December 22, 2023

Published by: Reuters
Published on: December 22, 2023
By Sriparna Roy, Shounak Dasgupta

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday that COVID subvariant JN.1 accounts for 39% to 50% of cases in the United States as of Dec. 23, according to the agency’s projections.

Comments closed

United States

New COVID variant JN.1 surges to 44% of cases, CDC estimates — even higher in New York, New Jersey

Published December 22, 2023

Published by: CBS News
Published on: December 22, 2023
By Alexander Tin

The new COVID-19 variant that scientists call JN.1 now makes up about 44.1% of COVID-19 cases across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Friday, marking another week of the fast-spreading variant’s steep rise in the U.S.

The increase is more than two times larger than the 21.3% that the CDC now estimates the strain made up of infections for the week ending Dec. 9, after Thanksgiving.

Comments closed

United Kingdom

Covid rising in England and Scotland as new variant spreads around world

Published December 21, 2023

Published by: The Guardian
Published on: December 21, 2023
By Nicola Davis

Snow might not be swirling in the UK but Covid is in the air this Christmas, data has revealed, with experts warning a new variant is on the rise around the world.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), an estimated 4.2%, or one in 24 people, in England and Scotland had Covid on 13 December compared with 1.8% – or one in 55 – on 29 November.

Comments closed

Tag: JN.1

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts