The study found the variant is four times more resistant to messenger RNA vaccines than earlier strains of Omicron, which include Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, Xinhua news agency reported
Unvaccinated people have about a five times higher chance of contracting the virus than those who are vaccinated and boosted, while chances of hospitalisation are 7.5 times higher, and chances of death are 14 to 15 times higher, said Gregory Poland, Head of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group
New Delhi:
Though the overall virus-related concerns have eased with COVID infections becoming less deadly, a spike in new infections across G-20 economies is, however, a reminder that the emergence of newer and more dangerous variants remains a risk to the global economic outlook, said global research and rating agency Moody’s in a report ‘Economic Pulse Check: Alternative Data Monitor’.
As central banks across the globe tighten monetary policy more aggressively through interest rate hikes in order to curb the rising inflation, financial conditions have now become less favorable.
“Higher borrowing costs are adding to pressures on households and firms, increasing risks to aggregate demand,” it said in the report.
Economic activity has slowed further, as inflation and tightening credit conditions weaken consumer and business sentiment, thereby denting purchasing power.
The silver lining, according to the report, is that disruptions in the shipping sector and shortages of key inputs are slowly beginning to resolve, and food prices are decreasing, which in a way is easing supply-side inflationary pressures.
IMF
Meanwhile, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva on Saturday warned officials from the Group of 20 major economies to take urgent action to combat inflation, warning that the “exceptionally uncertain” global economic outlook could turn worse if higher prices persisted. Georgieva, speaking at a G20 finance official meeting in Indonesia, said Russia’s intensifying war in Ukraine had increased pressure on commodity and energy prices, and global financial conditions were tightening more than expected.
At the same time, pandemic-related disruptions and renewed supply chain bottlenecks continued to weigh on economic activity. Pressure was mounting on heavily-indebted countries, and the debt situation was “deteriorating fast,” she said, according to a text of her remarks
The BA.5 Omicron subvariant, now the dominant coronavirus strain in the US, is four times more resistant to Covid-19 vaccines, according to a new study published in Nature.
The study found the variant is four times more resistant to messenger RNA vaccines than earlier strains of Omicron, which include Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, Xinhua news agency reported.
The strain is “hypercontagious” and is contributing to increases in hospitalisations and ICU admissions, said the Mayo Clinic in a report on Thursday.
The BA.5 strain represented 65 per cent of Covid-19 cases in the country in the week ending July 9, according to the latest data from the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
Unvaccinated people have about a five times higher chance of contracting the virus than those who are vaccinated and boosted, while chances of hospitalisation are 7.5 times higher, and chances of death are 14 to 15 times higher, said Gregory Poland, Head of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group.