Coronavirus: Prevalence of COVID XBB, BA.2.75 has increased, says WHO in latest report; know the key symptoms

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently released the weekly report of COVID cases worldwide.

"The number of new weekly deaths decreased by 17% as compared to the previous week, with over 7800 new fatalities reported. As of 4 December 2022, over 641 million confirmed cases and over 6.6 million have been reported globally," the WHO has said.

India recorded 166 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases declined to 4,255, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

While Omicron is the dominant variant of the coronavirus right now, among its sub variants BA.5 and its lineages account for around 70% of the sequences submitted to GISAID, the majority so far.

Cases of BA.4 descendent lineages declined from 2.8% to 2.0%.

BQ.1 cases have increased from 27.6% to 36.2%.

Cases of XBB infection, the recombinant variant of Omicron, have also been increasing. As per the WHO report, XBB cases have increased from 4.2% to 5%.

Until now, the classic symptoms of COVID have been fever, body chills, chronic fatigue, bodyache, headache, sore throat, and shortness of breath.

People also experience chest pain, pink eye, nausea, vomiting, as well.

Many people also had skin related issues like rashes, and COVID toes.

With newer COVID strains having high transmission rate and immunity escaping ability, COVID reinfections have become a common occurrence. People who have been vaccinated are also getting infected.

The ZOE Health Study has tracked the symptoms of COVID in fully vaccinated individuals and has found that these people mostly experience sore throat, runny nose, blocked nose, persistent cough and headache.

The ZOE Health Study has also found the symptoms seen in people who have not been vaccinated yet.

It says, Headache, sore throat, runny nose, fever and persistent cough remain the commonly seen symptoms in unvaccinated individuals, with headache being the top most symptom, other symptoms like loss of smell which was highly prevalent during the first and second wave of the COVID infection is not seen these days.

Zero COVID is when a particular district has zero COVID cases for three consecutive days.

Reportedly 49 districts in Uttar Pradesh have achieved this status recently. Districts like Rae Bareli, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Kushinagar, Ambedkarnagar and Kanpur Dehat and several others have a total of 103 cases while 49 districts do not have a single active case of COVID Dr Vikasendu Agrawal, state surveillance officer (SSO), Uttar Pradesh told media.

Just when COVID cases are falling at a good pace, China's zero-COVID policy grabbed headlines for its strict restrictions on people.

In view of the protests and unrest, the China government has rolled back its COVID rules.

Now, those with mild or no symptoms can now isolate at home rather than in state-managed facilities. Prior to this, these people were forced to live in quarantine centres which were hastily built. Several videos of people being dragged out of their home were circulated on social media.

Lockdowns can now be lifted if no new cases are found 4-5 consecutive days. Schools can also remain open if no major outbreak is reported.

Mass testing has also been removed from the COVID policy.

Until now, we have seen several mutations of the coronavirus. The latest variant is the Omicron and its sub variants have undergone several mutations.

In view of the transmission rate and the immunity escaping ability of the virus it is prudent to keep following safety measures. Wearing masks, sanitizing hands often, avoiding touching exposed surfaces, and avoiding putting hand in mouth without cleaning it properly are a few simple hygiene practices we need to follow.

Can diabetes medications really help you lose weight like Elon musk claims?