Extremely contagious Covid-19 variant HV.1 spreading in US

The new, extremely contagious Covid-19 variant,  HV.1, is spreading across the US. Other strains, such as EG.5 also called as Eris, which is the dominant strain globally, is being dominated by this variation.

Since the end of October, more than 25% of COVID-19 cases have been linked to HV.1. Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that during the two weeks that ended on October 28, the variant was thought to be responsible for 25.2% of all newly diagnosed cases.

To gear up for a potential winter surge, officials have started looking into the variant.

Following HV.1, EG.5, also known as Fornax, FL.1.5.1, and XBB.1.16 or Arcturus, were the most prevalent variants in the states. The most common strains of COVID-19 in the United States are all Omicron offshoots.

In an interview with TODAY.com, Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, stated, “You can almost think of HV.1 as a grandchild of omicron.”

“The COVID family of viruses likes to mutate. We’ve all learned that by now. HV.1 is still very close to the existing omicron subvariants,” he added.

According to CDC data, in late July, HV.1 was responsible for just 0.5% of COVID-19 cases; by September 30, that number had increased to 12.5%; and by November, it was the most prevalent train in the US.

Dr. William has defined a number of symptoms, including sore throat, runny nose, headache, muscle aches, chills, and congestion or stuffiness, for the HV.1 variant.

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