COVID never left; we simply learned to live with it. Approved vaccines and the immunity and resistance acquired by the population after the pandemic reduced the incidence of this disease, which killed millions of people worldwide between 2020 and 2023 (estimated between 30 and 35 million). The problem with this adaptive virus is its ability to mutate and develop variants with different contagion and impact capabilities. In recent days, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned about a new variant of COVID that has caused a significant increase in virus cases in countries in Asia such as China and India.
According to a WHO report from May 28, this variant, called NB.1.8.1, could become one of the most prevalent in the coming weeks. The presence of this variant in 22 countries, mainly in Asia, is increasing the number of people infected and hospitalized by the virus.
Thailand is one of the most affected countries, as well as India, where the number of active cases has exceeded 3,000, tripling the confirmed cases from a week ago, according to data published by the Indian Ministry of Health. The Indian government seeks to prevent a repeat of the dramatic situation experienced during the second wave of COVID in 2021 when more than 400,000 infections and 4,000 deaths were recorded daily, with a collapsed healthcare system.
In Spain, the number of infections has risen in the last week. The National Center of Epidemiology has reported, through the Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance System (SIVIRA), that in the last week there have been 39.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 32.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants the previous week. However, there is no information linking the increase in cases in Spain to the new variant NB.1.8.1.
Despite monitoring this variant, the WHO has not wanted to sound the alarm since, according to the report published by this organization, "current data do not indicate that this variant causes a more severe illness than other circulating variants."