WHO designates Omicron EG.5 as a variant of interest
The WHO has designated Omicron EG.5, along with its sublineages, as a variant of interest (VOI).
“EG.5 carries an additional F456L amino acid mutation in the spike protein compared to the parent XBB.1.9.2 subvariant and XBB.1.5,” the WHO said on August 9.
“Within the EG.5 lineage, the subvariant EG.5.1 has an additional spike mutation Q52H and represents 88% of the available sequences for EG.5 and its descendent lineages.”
The WHO said that, based on the available evidence, the public health risk posed by EG.5 was evaluated as low at the global level, “aligning with the risk associated with XBB.1.16 and the other currently circulating VOIs”.
The organisation added: “While EG.5 has shown increased prevalence, growth advantage, and immune escape properties, there have been no reported changes in disease severity to date.”
The WHO notes that EG.5 was first reported on February 17, 2023, and was designated as a variant under monitoring (VUM) on July 19.
The organisation’s Covid-19 technical lead, Maria Van Kerkhove, said that EG.5 had “an increased growth rate”.
She said the WHO hadn’t detected a change in severity with EG.5 compared to other Omicron sublineages that had been in circulation since late 2021.
The WHO said that, as of August 7, 2023, 7,354 sequences of EG.5 had been submitted to the global repository GISAID from 51 countries.
“The largest portion of EG.5 sequences are from China (30.6%, 2,247 sequences),” the organisation added.
“The other countries with at least 100 sequences are the United States of America (18.4%, 1,356 sequences), the Republic of Korea (14.1%, 1,040 sequences), Japan (11.1%, 814 sequences), Canada (5.3%, 392 sequences), Australia (2.1%, 158 sequences), Singapore (2.1%, 154 sequences), the United Kingdom (2.0%, 150 sequences), France (1.6%,119 sequences), Portugal (1.6%, 115 sequences), and Spain (1.5%, 107 sequences).”
Globally, the WHO said, there had been a steady increase in the proportion of EG.5 reported.
“During epidemiological week 29 (17 to 23 July 2023), the global prevalence of EG.5 was 17.4%,” the organisation said. “This is a notable rise from the data reported four weeks prior (week 25, 19 to 25 June 2023), when the global prevalence of EG.5 was 7.6%.”
The WHO added: “While concurrent increases in the proportion of EG.5 and Covid-19 hospitalisations (lower than previous waves) have been observed in countries such as Japan and the Republic of Korea, no associations have been made between these hospitalisations and EG.5.
“However, due to its growth advantage and immune escape characteristics, EG.5 may cause a rise in case incidence and become dominant in some countries or even globally.”
The organisation said that, among the VOIs and VUMs featuring the F456L mutation and for the period June 19 to July 23, 2023, EG.5 was the most reported variant, at 49.1%.
The percentages for other VOIs and VUMs were 4.88% for XBB.1.16.6, 4.41% for FL.1.5.1, 4.06% for XBB.1.5.10, 3.52% for XBB.1.5.72, 3.26% for EG.6.1, 3.07% for FD.1.1, 3.06% for EG.5.2, 2.58% for FE.1.1, 2.47% for FL.15, 2.09% for FE.1.2, 1.91% for XBB.1.5.70, 1.83% for GK.1, 1.68% for FE.1.1.1, 1.31% for XBB.1.5.59, 1.27% for XBB.1.5, 1.26% for GN.1, 1.15% for XBB.1.16.9, 1.08% for FL.1.5, and 1.07% for XBB.1.9.1, among others with reported prevalence less than one percent.
The Nowcast estimates in the US indicate a rise in the prevalence of EG.5.
There is comprehensive information about SARS-CoV-2 variants in the tome on my Changing Times website about Covid vaccination.