NEW ‘AMERICAN COVID’ STRAIN BEING MONITORED

As the United Kingdom enters the annual flu season, health authorities are closely monitoring a new wave of COVID diagnoses that is resulting in an unusually large number of hospitalisations.

What has been called the ‘American COVID' is a new strain of the virus officially called XFG, or ‘Stratus’. It's the newest variant of the Omicron COVID, which was responsible for extensive waves of the virus at the height of the pandemic.

According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the rate of positive Covid-19 tests in hospitals increased from 5.9 per cent to 7.0 per cent in September. Admission rates in London alone associated with the new variants are up by over 75 per cent. It now accounts for more than half of positive tests in the UK.

The World Health Organisation(WHO) reports that the so-called American COVID variant - so named because it’s the most common variant in the USA - was first identified in January this year, and has since spread globally.

UKHSA data show that since the peak of Covid-19 hospitalisations in the UK in January 2021, annual vaccination campaigns have continued each autumn in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.

The UKHSA said that with the Stratus or American Covid strain in circulation for a year, this winter’s vaccine is specifically designed to protect against it and its variants.

Dr Alex Allen, consultant epidemiologist at the UKHSA, said: “While Covid-19 activity has shown some recent increases, cases remain at low levels in the UK. UKHSA is monitoring all the data relating to Covid-19 variants in the UK and abroad, and we continue to publish our findings in our regular surveillance reports."

UK health experts are urging persons eligible for the autumn Covid-19 vaccination to get the jab as a necessary prevention.

They have also sought to reassure the public that despite the rapid increase in positive tests for the American Covid variant, another pandemic is not anticipated.

UKHSA’s Dr Allen said: ‘While Covid-19 activity has shown some recent increases, cases remain at low levels in the UK. We’re also not seeing any evidence that these are making people more ill or spreading faster than before, and this year’s autumn vaccine has been specifically designed to protect against them.”

Meanwhile, reporting by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) shows that “epidemic trend categories indicate the probability that the number of infections is currently growing…As of September 30, 2026, we estimate that COVID-19 infections are growing or likely growing in 19 states, declining or likely declining in 8 states, and not changing in 23 states.”

A briefing held by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials in Alabama this past August indicated that while there were indications of an uptick in COVID cases, it was however not considered a surge.