It’s a reminder that COVID-19 continues to mutate and spread around the world.

A new coronavirus variant has emerged called EG.5, a descendant of Omicron.

So far, cases associated with the new variant have been reported in the United Kingdom, United States and elsewhere.

The latest data from the UK Health Security Agency suggests EG.5 makes up just under 15-percent of all COVID cases in Britain.

In the U.S., it’s a bit more than that, accounting for roughly 17.3 percent of cases, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prvention.

Infectious disease specialists in Canada expect cases of EG.5 to pop up soon in this country, if they haven’t already.

Symptoms are said to be similar to Omicron including stuffed nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing, sore throat, coughing, changes to sense of smell.

Meantime, we learned on Friday that Health Canada has approved an RSV vaccine (manufactured by GSK) for people 60 and older.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus is common but can be serious in older people.

Bill VanGorder is chief policy officer and chief operating officer at the Zoomers’ Advocacy Group – CARP.

He says this fall, older people will be offered 3 separate shots — a COVID booster, a flu shot and an RSV vaccine.

“They can be coadministered,” VanGorder told guest host Jane Brown on Zoomer Radio’s Fight Back with Libby Znaimer, “The COVID, the flu, and the RSV (shots), you can get them all at the same time, two in one arm, one in the other. They’re not being mixed at the moment, but you can get them at the same time.”

And we Canadians will find out more about these shots in early fall.