The call for mask-wearing comes after a rise in Covid cases and the worrying emergence of a new ‘mutation’, with one expert saying it was more likely ’cause a big wave’ than previous strains, reported mirror.
Scientists have called for people to start wearing face masks again amid a worrying Covid-19 variant ‘mutation’.
Eris variant
The warning comes as the latest data showed that Eris, a subvariant of Omicron, now accounts for 1 in 10 Covid cases – while the number of people recorded with the virus jumped from an estimated 3.3 per 100,000 to 7.2 in the space of less than a month.
BA.6
But a brand new sub-strain, which has not yet been formally named but is referred to as ‘BA.6’, has led some to fear that a bleak coronavirus picture could emerge in the weeks ahead.
Warning that people should start wearing facemasks to stop the spread, Dr Trisha Greenhalgh, a primary healthcare expert at the University of Oxford, wrote on Twitter: “My various science WhatsApp groups are buzzing. Genetic lineage clips and diagrams flying back and forth. I understand little of the details but it looks like it’s once again time to MASK UP.”
Professor Christina Pagel, a mathematician from University College London who is a sitting member on the Independent SAGE group, meanwhile said on the social media platform that it was “very very early days” but conceded that the variant has a “Lot of new mutations that makes it v different to previous Omicron strains”. She added that this meant it was “potentially more able to cause a big wave”.
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Source :mirror
