CNA Explains: The FLiRT family of COVID-19 variants and what we know about the KP.2 strain

The two strains belong to a new family of subvariants called “FLiRT”, which is also spreading elsewhere in the world.KP.1 and KP.2 belong to a group of COVID-19 variants scientists have nicknamed “FLiRT”, after the technical names of their mutations., an offshoot of the Omicron variant. The JN.1 variant spread rapidly around the world several months back and was responsible for Singapore's COVID-19 wave last December.In May, KP.

It could even infect people who received the most updated vaccine, Dr Ho added, since that shot targets XBB.1.5, a variant that is different from JN.1. Like JN.1 and previous Omicron variants, it may take five or more days before a person starts to develop symptoms after exposure, although symptoms may appear sooner, said Professor Andy Pekosz from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Infected people could also experience gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, which are sometimes confused with norovirus symptoms.Globally there has not been a large number of hospitalisations. The mortality rate has also remained low. The danger is that repeat infections could raise the risk of developing long-COVID, said Dr Fikadu Tafesse, a virologist at Oregon Health & Science University.

It has also been several months since many people received their last dose of the vaccine, and that immunity wanes over time.“We firmly believe that it is still effective against preventing severe disease such as hospitalisation and death,” Dr Leong said.

MOH CNA Explains Infectious Diseases

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