Flirt is this family of submarines.
Now derive from Omicron and before end then Jang-en-wan,
basically this had a mutation in the spike protein of the JN1 variant,
and so now this family of variants, which are all very similar to each other, are just highly transmissible.
They're able to get through our immune systems better, which is why we're starting to see a real spike in cases.
Now, in the United States, this family of variants has really overtaken JN1 and all other variants.
it now practically might been 100%
of COVID cases there, and because it is so good at evading immunity, a lot more people are getting it.
So, you know, we're starting to see a real spike in COVID cases.
We've seen it in Singapore more recently as well, and now we have just heard that these cases have been detected in Australia.
this week we did hear from Queensland's Chief Medical Officer who was saying that
certainly they've noticed a few in Victoria testing of water treatment plants has definitely uncovered that there are traces of it there as well.
Still JN1 is the dominant strain but we're starting to see more of these flirt variants.
And so what we're expecting is that this will soon overtake all COVID cases and the majority
of them will be this family of their own.
So what are the implications of that Penny?
How worried should we be?
The good news is that all these variants that do come from the original Omicron strain make us much less ill when we do develop COVID.
So essentially some people will still get quite sick, they'll hospitalisations and unfortunately some people will still die.
But, for the majority of people, especially those who are not in the older sort of age
bracket or those who are, you know, compromised, they will be able to get through this quite well.
You know, it's the traditional symptoms that we've come to know.
So, feeling fatigued, having, you know, chills or fever, probably bedridden for a couple
of days and maybe some sniffles, other people may sort of see it lingering a little bit more.
it is a much milder disease,
especially from those early days of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, where people were really concerned about those really early strains of it.
Interestingly, though, because of this trajectory of the strains of this virus, the world health organisations
says that it's now recommending that future vaccines do get tweaked
slightly so that they more align with this sub lineage of this
Omocron JN1 so that they can get better at targeting these particular variants because You know,
because these variants are so good at evading our immunity,
the hope is that if we can just improve vaccines a little bit,
it'll go a long way to, I guess, helping us be better protected against really severe disease.
