Navigate India's diverse landscape with IndiDNA

admin@indidna.com

USA Finance Digest is your one-stop destination for the latest financial news and insights

0
0
0
0
Contact Us
Navigate India's diverse landscape with IndiDNA
0
0
0
Popular
G Gold and Silver

What Are the Risks of JN.1? The New Covid Variant That Has Sparked Worry Among Scientists

Emily Wilson
November 8, 2023
2 min read
0
Share
0
0
0

What Is JN.1? The New Covid Variant That Has Sparked Worry Among Scientists

The new Covid variant is a descendant of BA.2.86, also known as ‘Pirola’.

Scientists across the world are worried about a new COVID-19 variant that could be more infectious and could evade vaccine immunity. The JN.1 strain of coronavirus has recently been detected in the United States and in 11 other countries, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This variant is causing a surge in infections worldwide yet again and raising alarm bells among health authorities.

According to experts, the new Covid variant is a descendant of BA.2.86, also known as ‘Pirola’ – which came from Omicron. “Neither JN.1 nor BA.2.86 is common in the United States right now. In fact, JN.1 has been detected so rarely that it makes up fewer than 0.1 percent of SARS-CoV-2 viruses,” CDC wrote on its site. 

There is only a single change between JN.1 and BA.2.86 and that is in the spike protein. The spike protein – called a “spike” because it looks like tiny spikes on the virus’ surface – plays a crucial role in helping the virus infect people,” the CDC explained, adding, “Because of this, the spike protein is also the part of a virus that vaccines target, meaning vaccines should work against JN.1 and BA.2.86 similarly”. 

Also Read | What Is Ptosis? The Eye Condition Zeenat Aman Has Been Battling For Years

Further, it also said that nearly all viruses circulating in the United States now are part of the XBB family and that JN.1 makes up less than 0.1% of SARS-CoV-2 viruses. The initial data by the CDC also suggest that updated covid vaccines will help protect against BA.2.86, and it expects a similar effect against JN.1. It even stated that an analysis from the federal government’s SARS-CoV-2 Interagency Group suggests treatments and testing will remain effective.

“For as long as we have COVID-19, we’ll have new variants. Nearly all represent relatively small changes compared with previous variants. CDC and other agencies monitor for impacts of new variants on vaccines, tests, and treatments, and will alert the public quickly if anything concerning is detected,” the CDC said, adding, “Most of the time, new variants make little to no impact”. 

Waiting for response to load…

Share this article
0
0
0
Shareable URL
Emily Wilson
Prev Post

Doctor Warns of Health Risks of Breathing Mumbai Air as if Smoking 1,000 Cigarettes in a Short Time
Next Post

Doctor Warns of Health Risks of Breathing Mumbai Air as if Smoking 1,000 Cigarettes in a Short Time
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Read next

Fight Israeli President Urges Elon Musk to Play a “Huge Role” in Combating Anti-Semitism [ad_1] <!– –>Elon Musk and Netanyahu held a conversation on X following their tour of Kfar Aza.Jerusalem: Israel’s president told Elon Musk on Monday that the tech mogul has “a huge role to play” to combat anti-Semitism, which his social media platform is accused of spreading.The meeting came after the world’s richest person visited a kibbutz community devastated in attacks by Hamas militants on October 7, and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence officials.Musk has been criticised over what critics say is a proliferation of hate speech on X, formerly Twitter, since his takeover of the social media site in October 2022.He has been accused by the White House of “abhorrent promotion” of anti-Semitism after endorsing a conspiracy theory seen as accusing Jews of trying to weaken white majorities.Israel’s figurehead President Isaac Herzog told him: “Unfortunately, we are inundated by anti-Semitism, which is Jew hatred.”You have a huge role to play,” he said. “And I think we need to fight it together because on the platforms which you lead, unfortunately, there’s a harbouring of a lot of… anti-Semitism.”Musk did not mention anti-Semitism in his video remarks released by Herzog’s office, but said Hamas militants “have been fed propaganda since they were children”.”It’s remarkable what humans are capable of if they’re fed falsehoods, from when they are children; they will think that the murder of innocent people is a good thing.”On October 7 Hamas militants broke through Gaza’s militarised border into southern Israel to kill around 1,200 people and seize about 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials, in the worst-ever attack since the nation’s founding.Vowing to destroy Hamas in response, Israel has carried out a relentless bombardment of targets in Gaza, alongside a ground invasion, that the Hamas government says has killed almost 15,000.A temporary truce has been in effect since Friday.– Talk of satellites –Earlier Monday, Netanyahu and Musk discussed “security aspects of artificial intelligence” with senior defence officials, the Prime Minister’s Office said.Musk and Netanyahu held a conversation on X following their tour of Kfar Aza, one of the communities attacked by Hamas.”We have to demilitarise Gaza after the destruction of Hamas,” Netanyahu said, calling for a campaign to “deradicalise” the Palestinian territory.”Then we also have to rebuild Gaza, and I hope to have our Arab friends help in that context.”Netanyahu told Musk he hoped to resume United States-mediated normalisation talks with Saudi Arabia after Hamas’s defeat and “expand the circle of peace beyond anything imaginable”.The war stalled progress towards a Saudi-Israel normalisation deal, and in early November Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler denounced the conduct of Israeli forces fighting Hamas in Gaza.Israel’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said his country had reached an understanding in principle on the use of Starlink satellites, operated by Musk’s company SpaceX, in Israel and the Gaza Strip “with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications”.Starlink is a network of satellites in low Earth orbit that can provide internet to remote locations, or areas that have had normal communications infrastructure disabled.In September, Netanyahu urged Musk “to stop not only anti-Semitism, or rolling it back as best you can, but any collective hatred” on X.Musk said at the time that while his platform could not stop all hate speech before it was posted, he was “generally against attacking any group, no matter who it is”.X Corp is currently suing nonprofit Media Matters on the grounds that it has driven away advertisers by portraying the site as rife with anti-Semitic content.Musk has also threatened to file suit against the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, over its claims that problematic and racist speech has soared on the site since he completed his $44-billion takeover.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)Waiting for response to load… [ad_2]

November 28, 2023
0 min read
Read More