The menacing mutants of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 have once again made the epidemic situation in Europe and the United States serious. World Health Organization (WHO) 's regional director for Europe, Hans Krueger (Hans Kluge), warned on July 1 that novel coronavirus would spread at a "high level" in the summer as European countries cancelled previously implemented social measures.Fauci, the chief infectious disease expert in the United States, also said that if Congress lacks support for epidemic prevention measures, the United States will encounter 100 million cases of COVID-19 and a large number of deaths this autumn.

The rare case of COVID-19, "Cat Descendants", has been confirmed by the latest article published in the international authoritative scientific journal Nature.A novel coronavirus research team in Thailand confirmed the world's first case of COVID-19 transmitted from a pet cat to a person, gave conclusive evidence, and added cats to the list of animals that could "infect novel coronavirus." The researchers point out that this kind of cat transmission from person to person is rare.

Another Listeria monocytogenes infection in the United States has also aroused concern.On June 30, local time, the CDC said that a new Listeria monocytogenes infection in the United States had sickened 23 people and killed one. This is the third Listeria monocytogenes infection reported in the United States so far this year, resulting in 50 illnesses and 4 deaths.

World Health Organization (WHO) 's sudden warning

World Health Organization (WHO) 's regional director for Europe, Hans Krueger (Hans Kluge), warned that novel coronavirus would spread at a "high level" in the summer as European countries lifted previously implemented social measures, Chinanews.com reported, citing French television station 24. It further warned that the virus would not disappear because countries stopped looking for it, that it was still spreading, that it was changing, and that it was still taking lives.

At present, O'Micron BA.4 and BA.5 mutants are rapidly spreading in continental Europe. According to World Health Organization (WHO) 's latest data, 53 countries in the European region currently register nearly 500000 cases a day. Austria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal are countries with high incidence.

Jean-Francois del Fleisi, head of the French government's scientific committee, said on June 30th that a new wave of COVID-19 infection in France caused by the Omicron variant could peak at the end of July.

According to the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics on July 1, the number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 in the country increased by more than 30% in the week to June 24 from the previous week, with about 2.3 million people infected with novel coronavirus, compared with about 1.7 million in the previous week. The Office for National Statistics said this may be related to the infection caused by Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 mutants.

At present, the United States is also experiencing a new wave of epidemic infections, with more than 100000 new cases in a single day. On June 30, local time, Fauci, the chief US infectious disease expert, warned when attending a meeting of the US Congress that if the US Congress lacks support for epidemic prevention measures.The United States will experience 100 million cases of COVID-19 and a large number of deaths this fall.

The Asian region also faces the risk of spread of BA.4 and BA.5 variants. According to Kyodo news agency, the consultant expert organization of Japan's Ministry of Health and Labor said on June 30 that novel coronavirus is being upgraded and that the number of people infected in Japan is likely to increase in the future due to the summer vacation and other factors. In the week to June 29, the number of confirmed cases in Japan reached 1.17 times that of the previous week, the first increase in a month and a half, according to data produced by the Ministry of Labor.

Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases estimates that the proportion of people infected with BA.5 in Omicron will reach 24% in the first week of July (June 27 to July 3) and more than 50% in the second week. By the end of July, most of the people infected in Japan are expected to be BA.5-infected.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) 's latest Global COVID-19 epidemic Weekly report, the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide increased by 18% in the past week, reaching the highest level since April, mainly due to infection caused by the more contagious Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants.

At present, BA.4 and BA.5 mutants have accounted for 55% of all COVID-19 infection samples, of which BA.5 accounted for 43%, dBA.4 accounted for 12%, has replaced BA.2 to become the world's main strain.

COVID-19 's "cat-to-human" case has been confirmed.

Prior to this, the highly discussed rare case of COVID-19, "cat to human", was confirmed by the latest article published in the authoritative international scientific magazine Nature.

A novel coronavirus research team in Thailand confirmed the world's first case of COVID-19 transmitted from a pet cat to a person, gave conclusive evidence, and added cats to the list of animals that could "infect novel coronavirus."

The researchers were convinced of the findings. The researchers point out that this kind of cat transmission from person to person is very rare. Leo Poon, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong, pointed out that experimental studies have shown that infected cats do not excrete too much virus.

The list of animals that can infect novel coronavirus also includes farmed minks in Europe and North America, pet hamsters in Hong Kong and wild white-tailed deer in Canada. The addition of cats to the list "broadens our understanding of the spread of the virus in humans and animals," Poon said.

Although there is currently a related case, the researchers say these are rare events, animals have not yet played an important role in spreading the virus, and humans are clearly still the main source of transmission of the virus.

In early June, the latest issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, an academic publication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published a study that revealed a suspected cat-to-human case of novel coronavirus in Thailand.

Through epidemiological investigation and virus genome sequencing, it is inferred that a 32-year-old healthy female veterinarian in Thailand was infected with novel coronavirus by a cat, which is the first case found in the world.

After a father and son diagnosed COVID-19 in August 2021, their pet cat was sent to a pet hospital for examination, and a veterinarian sneezed in the veterinarian's face while sampling the cat, according to foreign media reports. Later, the veterinarian was diagnosed and tested that the genome of novel coronavirus infected by him was the same as that of cats. The researchers speculate that this is a case of "human-to-cat transmission, cat-to-human transmission".

At the same time, another study on the relationship between new crown severity and obesity has also sparked a heated debate.

A new study published in the Lancet: diabetes and Endocrinology, a top international medical journal, shows that people with too high or too low an BMI index have a higher risk of developing a new coronary disease than those whose body weight is in an ideal range. At the same time, the results also show that people who are too thin or too fat can be effectively protected after two or three doses of the vaccine.

BMI is a common international index to measure the degree of obesity and thinness. the ideal BMI index should be between 18.5 and 24.9. If the BMI is lower than 18.5, the body weight is too low. If the BMI is above 24.9, it is considered obese.

The study used data from more than 9 million COVID-19 patients in the UK. The results show that the effect of COVID-19 vaccine on obese people is slightly better than that of those who are underweight.

Carmen Piernas, the lead author of the study and a lecturer in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care and Health at the University of Oxford, recommends the need to increase vaccination for people who are underweight.

Previously, a survey of 300000 people by the University of London found that people who were overweight and obese were 40 per cent and 70 per cent more likely to be admitted to hospital than those with normal weight, respectively.

In addition, a study by the University of North Carolina in the United States pointed out that once people with a BMI of more than 30 were infected with COVID-19, not only the risk of hospitalization increased by 113%, the probability of requiring intensive care was also 74%, the risk of death increased by 48%, and it may even affect the effectiveness of the vaccine.

A new wave of infections in the United States

A new wave of Listeria monocytogenes infection in the United States has sickened 23 people and killed one, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) health officials said on June 30, citing the Associated Press.

Almost all of the patients in the infection lived in or had been to Florida a month before they became ill, according to the CDC. So far, no food has been found to cause the spread of the deadly bacteria.

U. S. health officials said symptoms of Listeria monocytogenes include fever, muscle pain, nausea and diarrhea, and urged people to be vigilant after the symptoms.

It is worth mentioning that this is the third wave of Listeria monocytogenes infection reported by the CDC in the United States this year. According to previous reports from CDC, bagged Vegetables Salad produced by fresh fruit and vegetable supplier Dole contracted Listeria monocytogenes in February, which sickened 17 people and killed 2 in 13 states in the United States. In addition, 10 brands of bagged salads produced by Fresh Express also caused a Listeria infection that sickened 10 people and killed 1 person in eight states.

So far, listeria monocytogenes infection in the United States has sickened 50 people and killed 4 people in the first six months of this year.

Listeria monocytogenes is a short gram-positive non-bacillus, which is ubiquitous in nature, is not easy to be frozen and thawed, can survive at low temperatures, and is easy to lurk in overnight cooked food in the refrigerator in summer. Listeria monocytogenes can cause human meningitis, septicemia, abortion and neonatal infection and other diseases, immune deficiency after infection is more serious.

Listeria monocytogenes is an intracellular parasite that can produce a hemolytic exotoxin. T cells play an important role in the clearance of this bacteria, and people with low cellular immune function and immune deficiency are easy to be infected. Due to the imperfect fetal immune system and lack of immunity, it can cause fatal infection, which often leads to stillbirth and neonatal death. Listeria monocytogenes was once called the "invisible killer" of summer fetus.