All About The New COVID-19 Variant Causing 'Razor Blade' Sore Throats

News18

22-06-2025

Last Updated:
The new variant called the NB.1.8.1 has been detected in the US among travellers coming in from Western Pacific nations, with a rising number of patients.
The recent spike in coronavirus cases in certain parts of the world has been attributed to a new variant of the virus that caused a global health pandemic, nicknamed the 'razor blade throat" COVID. The variant is called the NB.1.8.1 or 'Nimbus' and causes painful sore throats among those who come into contact.
The symptom has been discovered by scientists in India and the United Kingdom, apart from other parts of the world, according to various media outlets. Just when the world was beginning to move on from the horrors of the global health emergency, coronavirus has sprung back into news and discussions with a rising number of affected persons by the new variant.
Fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath and loss of taste or smell are proven symptoms of any COVID variant, but Nimbus especially attacks one's throat. While health experts suggest there isn't a cause for major worries about this form of COVID, here is what you need to know about the variant responsible for the sudden spike in global cases.
According to a statement dated May 28 by the World Health Organisation, the variant causing the 'razor blade throat' has been spreading primarily in the eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and western Pacific regions.
The new variant is responsible for nearly 11% of the global sequenced samples reported since May. In the United States, airport screening held in California, Washington state, Virginia and New York found travellers coming in from those regions affected by the new variant.
The new variant is unlikely to cause any worse damage than other variants of the virus that emerged from China in December 2019. Even though Western Pacific countries have reported an increasing number of cases and persons hospitalised, the WHO says there is no proof to suggest the Nimbus variant comes with a disease and symptoms more dangerous than other variants. Likewise, the vaccines proven effective against those variants will help provide relief against NB.1.8.1 as well.
The WHO has marked the public health risk from the new variant at a low level, designating it as a 'variant under monitoring" with current vaccinations remaining effective.
Last month, Robert F Kennedy Jr announced that COVID-19 injection shots are no longer recommended for healthy children and women undergoing pregnancy. But public health experts raised an immediate question mark on the claim made by the US Health Secretary.
First Published:
June 22, 2025, 12:37 IST