Egypt Confirms First Cases of New EG.5 Coronavirus Variant

14:55, 23 August 2023

Samantha Arias

Writer

COVID-19 variant EG.5, also referred as Eris, was first reported on February 17 and assigned as a variant under monitoring by the World Health Organization (WHO) on July 19. Based on the risk evaluation, EG.5 and its sub-lineages were designated as a variant of interest by the UN body.

Sputnik

Egypt reported the first two cases of the new Coronavirus variant EG.5 on Tuesday, with both patients showing mild symptoms, according to a Health Ministry statement.

The two cases were confirmed by the monitoring system enrolled by 450 hospitals across Egypt for respiratory diseases.

"The test results from monitoring centers for cases of influenza-like illnesses, acute respiratory diseases, and pneumonia confirm two positive cases of the sublineage of the Omicron variant of COVID-19," the Egyptian Health Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry recommended a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine as a precautionary measure.

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The WHO has suggested that the Eris variant won't be alarming, despite the fact that it can cause an increase in infections.

Eris has the same symptoms as other COVID-19 variants, such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle aches, sore throat, and headache.