{"id":794478,"date":"2026-10-07T05:04:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T05:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/794478\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T05:04:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T05:04:55","slug":"american-covid-strain-increase-hospital-admissions-in-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/794478\/","title":{"rendered":"‘American Covid’ strain increase hospital admissions in England"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is currently an increase in hospitalisations across NHS hospital trusts owing to “American Covid<\/a>,” reports The Independent. <\/p>\n

According to the latest laboratory surveillance from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA<\/a>), more than half of all sequenced positive samples in England now test positive for XFG, also known as the Stratus variant. <\/p>\n

The strain<\/a> – first identified internationally earlier last year before spreading widely across the United States – is categorised by the World Health Organization as a recombinant lineage originating from the LF.7 and LP.8.1.2 variants. <\/p>\n

Although overall inpatient bed occupancy remains far below historic pandemic peaks, the rise in community transmission is placing early pressure on emergency departments and acute admissions units. <\/p>\n

The XFG strain is frequently presenting with marked exhaustion and upper airway involvement. Other symptoms remain the same as the Omicron family waves. <\/p>\n

Dr Bruno Silvester Lopes, a lecturer in microbiology at Teesside University, highlighted that the Stratus variant has been specifically “linked to hoarseness and fatigue” in presenting patients. <\/p>\n

Public health leaders maintain that seasonal fluctuations in SARS-CoV-2 prevalence are expected as indoor mixing increases in autumn and winter. <\/p>\n

The UKHSA is urging all eligible groups – including adults aged 65 and over, residents in older adult care homes, frontline health and social care workers, and clinical risk groups – to take up their autumn Covid-19 and flu vaccinations without delay. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is currently an increase in hospitalisations across NHS hospital trusts owing to “American Covid,” reports The Independent.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[261468,261465,261466,141285,261467,102,2960,56,1558,54,55,26582],"class_list":["post-794478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-american-covid","tag-community-transmission","tag-covid19-vaccinations","tag-emergency-departments","tag-flu-vaccinations","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-uk-health-security-agency","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-world-health-organization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}