3 days ago
Europe wary of new Nimbus Covid wave as cases emerge in UK and Italy
A new Covid strain is rapidly spreading around the world, with European scientists the latest to sound the alarm.
The variant, a descendant of Omicron, has been detected in small numbers in the UK, but data suggests it is growing as a proportion of all cases.
It was detected for the first time in the world on January 22, 2025 and has spread rapidly.
Nimbus, also known as NB. 1.8.1, has been designated a Variant Under Monitoring (VUM) by the World Health Organisation due to its increasing global presence.
The World Health Network warned that Nimbus has been identified as responsible for a resurgence of cases in several Asian countries, including India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand. At the end of May, the percentage of respiratory samples testing Covid-positive in Hong Kong reached its highest in a year.
While the resurgence is yet to match the infection peaks seen in the past two years, rising viral load found in sewage water, as well as in Covid-related medical consultations and hospitalisations suggest the virus is actively spreading, with hospitalisations reaching their highest levels in a year.
Singapore's health ministry released its first update on infection numbers in almost a year. The estimated number of cases jumped 28 per cent to 14,200 a week at the start of May, while daily hospitalisations rose around 30 per cent. Singapore only provides case updates when there is a noticeable spike.
Thailand's Department of Disease Control has reported two cluster outbreaks this year, with cases rising after April's annual Songkran festival, which brings together crowds of people.
Unlike other respiratory pathogens that tend to be more active during colder months, Covid's comeback just as much of the Northern Hemisphere enters summer shows the virus can still strike a large swathe of the population even in hot weather.
In Italy, where it was detected for the first time in Genoa this week, there were warnings that the country had 'lowered its guard too much' on vaccination against Covid.
Matteo Bassetti, director of the infectious diseases unit at San Martino Hospital in Genoa, said current policies are not working. 'Elderly and immunosuppressed people have problems with Covid,' he said.
Dr Giancarlo Icardi, co-ordinator of the region's hygiene laboratory, said the Nimbus variant 'is more easily transmissible, but has nothing to do with the virulence of the virus at the beginning of the pandemic or the first variants'.
The UK Health Security Agency urged those eligible for vaccination to ensure they received their jabs.
Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, deputy director of the agency, said there was no evidence that the Nimbus variant causes more severe disease than previous variants or that current vaccines would be less effective.
The UKHSA said: 'When a new variant appears on our radar, at the initial stages it is often quite difficult to know whether the mutations provide any advantages to the virus. Genetic mutations happen all the time, and in some cases have been known to make a virus less transmissible or cause a milder reaction in people.'
The symptoms of the Nimbus variant remain the same as previous variants: high temperature, cough, sore throat and runny nose.
