Europe

A new Covid variant dubbed Eris has emerged as hospital admissions spike amid bad weather and waning immunity this summer.

A descendant of Omicron, Eris, or EG.5.1, was first classified as a variant in the UK on 31 July, but now accounts for one in 10 Covid cases.

It is now the second most prevalent variant in the UK, after Arcturus which makes up almost half of all infection cases at 39.4 per cent, according to UKHSA.

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Europe recommends the approval of Pfizer's RSV vaccine for older adults and in pregnancy European regulators on Friday recommended the approval of Pfizer’s RSV vaccine both for older adults and for use in pregnancy. Andrew Joseph STAT

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First Genetic Clue Why Some People Do Not Get Sick From Covid People who have a particular genetic variant are twice as likely to never get sick when they contract Covid-19, researchers said on Wednesday, offering the first potential explanation for the lucky group dubbed the "super dodgers". AFP - Agence France Presse BarronsOnline

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Predicting COVID-19 Incidence Using Wastewater Surveillance Data, Denmark, October 2021–June 2022 Predicting COVID-19 Using Wastewater Surveillance Emerging Infectious Diseases journal

Analysis of wastewater is used in many settings for surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, but it remains unclear how well wastewater testing results reflect incidence. Denmark has had an extensive wastewater analysis system that conducts 3 weekly tests in ≈200 sites and has 85% population coverage; the country also offers free SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests to all residents. Using time series analysis for modeling, we found that wastewater data, combined with information on circulating variants and the number of human tests performed, closely fitted the incidence curve of persons testing positive