The public has been given some positive Covid-19 news as cases continue to soar and hospitals come under pressure.
A summer wave of the virus is being experienced right across the country, and the Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory at UCD has said the highly transmissible BA4 and BA5 variants now account for 85% of cases in Ireland.
These two strains may be flying through the community at the moment, however, to the relief of many Dr. Cillian de Gascun says “we're not going back to a previous virus like Alpha and Delta."
Dr De Gascun spoke to RTÉ Radio’s News at One earlier today and explained: "It's important to try to reassure people that while these viruses have a growth advantage and are more contagious than BA1 and BA2, it's a minor change in behaviour, we're not going back to a previous virus like Alpha and Delta.”
While there is no major cause for concern at this point, according to De Gascun, it is still too early to rule out the potential for these strains to cause more severe infections.
"There are other things we can do,” he said, “like look at how the virus is behaving in cells, the viral load, we can do some animal model work and, generally speaking, at the moment it's probably too early to definitively rule out the fact that these viruses might cause more severe disease.
"At the same time, there are no red flags at this stage. There are no major causes for concern."
The public is being encouraged to get their booster if they are due one or to begin their vaccination series if they haven’t done so yet.
This is down to the fact that many of the people presenting at hospitals across the country are either unvaccinated or were due to get their booster and did not - therefore have waning immunity.
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