{"id":144558,"date":"2025-05-30T16:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T16:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/144558\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T16:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T16:34:10","slug":"major-warning-as-new-covid-variant-spikes-at-popular-holiday-hotspots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/144558\/","title":{"rendered":"Major warning as new Covid variant spikes at popular holiday hotspots"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The strain has been detected in multiple countries, including Australia, the US and possibly the UK<\/p>\n<p>16:51, 30 May 2025Updated 16:51, 30 May 2025<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_COVID-19-Test.jpg\" alt=\"Rapid Covid test.\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>A positive COVID test.(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a warning to travellers about a new <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/coronavirus\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Covid<\/a> strain that has caused a spike in the disease in several holiday hotspots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The highly-infectious new strain &#8211; officially named NB.1.8.1 &#8211; has been detected in multiple countries, including Australia, Thailand and the Maldives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The WHO said recent increases have also been observed in Cambodia, China, Hong Kong and Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The report reads: &#8220;WHO recommends that countries remain vigilant, adapt to evolving epidemiological trends, and leverage <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/coronavirus\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">COVID-19<\/a> management strategies to strengthen systems for all respiratory disease threats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;Member States should continue offering COVID-19 vaccines in line with WHO recommendations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;Based on the current risk assessment of this event, WHO advises against imposing travel or trade restrictions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">While no new travel restrictions have been put in place, those travelling to and from the affected countries are being urged to report any symptoms to a doctor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Common symptoms include a sore throat, fever, mild cough, muscle aches and nasal congestion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Lara Herrero, Associate Professor and Research Leader in Virology and Infectious Disease at Griffith University, said thanks to multiple mutations the new strain &#8216;may infect cells more efficiently than earlier strains&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Professor Herrero added: &#8220;It\u2019s possible a person infected with NB.1.8.1 may be more likely to pass the virus on to someone else, compared to earlier variants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;The evidence so far suggests NB.1.8.1 may spread more easily and may partially sidestep immunity from prior infections or vaccination. These factors could explain its rise in sequencing data,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;But importantly, the WHO has not yet observed any evidence it causes more severe disease compared to other variants.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The strain has also been identified in parts of the Eastern Mediterranean and the US.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">There have also been some cases reported in the UK, but those reports have not been confirmed as of yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The strain has been detected in multiple countries, including Australia, the US and possibly the UK 16:51, 30&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[105,1014,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-144558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-travel-advice","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114597754522195004","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}