SINGAPORE — A new Covid-19 virus strain BA.2.86, also known as “Pirola”, is raising eyebrows among global health experts due to its numerous mutations that could have implications on its infectivity.
The Omicron strain itself, when it first emerged in 2021, contains 32 changes in the spike protein and included mutations that can increase transmission and evade immunity. It was more infectious than the Delta strain. TODAY has reached out to the Ministry of Health here on whether there are cases of Pirola in Singapore.
WHO defines a “variant under monitoring” as a Sars-CoV-2 variant with genetic changes that are suspected to affect virus characteristics and “early signals of growth advantage relative to other circulating variants”.The latest risk assessment summary for the new variant by the US CDC showed that Pirola may be more capable of causing infection in people who have had Covid-19 or who have received Covid-19 vaccines.
Since Singapore reverted to Dorscon Green, the lowest level of disease outbreak response classification on Feb 13, MOH has been publishing on its website key Covid-19 statistics on a weekly basis.HOW EFFECTIVE ARE VACCINES?Dr Paul Tambyah, president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, cited previous examples of “variants of interest” classified by WHO that have spread to Singapore.
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