It is only a matter of time before the SARS-CoV-2 virus weakens, Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Virology of the School of Medicine at the University of Nicosia, Dr. Petros Karayiannis told the Cyprus News Agency on Monday.
Dr. Karayiannis, also a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of Health Ministry, said that he is cautious but not particularly worried at the moment as regards the three new substrains BQ.1, BQ1.1 and XBB.
He said that re-infections will be detected in Cyprus and their occurrence will be due to the fact that these strains can partially escape immunity. But he went on to say that a new wave will not be as bad as the previous ones.
He explained that BQ.1 and BQ1.1 are offshoots of Omicron 5, which is currently dominant on the island.
Dr Karayiannis said many citizens were infected with Omicron 4 and 5 during last summer’s wave, so there is some immunity.
In addition, he notes that the updated vaccines offer protection against Omicron 4 and 5 and therefore could induce immunity.
With reference to substrains BQ.1 and BQ1.1, he said that they are trying to dominate Omicron 5 and they seem to have some advantage right now due to partial escape.
Regarding the XBB substrain, Dr Karayiannis said that this is a branch of Omicron 2 and was first detected in Singapore and now in 17 other countries in Europe and Asia.
He said that this substrain is highly transmissible.
Asked about the 4th and 5th booster shots of the vaccine he said that studies have shown that they stimulate immunity and cause a 60% increase in neutralizing antibodies against Omicron 4 and 5. He said that scientists hope that this increase in antibodies will also suppress the new strains to a large extent.
Source: Cyprus News Agency