The most recent Omicron subvariant, XBB1.5, is probably the most transmissible strain of COVID yet — but doesn’t appear to make people sicker, the World Health Organization has said.
XBB.1.5 has spread quickly across the northeastern US and accounts for about 41% of confirmed COVID cases across the nation, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, warned that the number of individuals infected with XBB.1.5 has doubled within the US about every two weeks.
“It’s probably the most transmissible subvariant that has been dectected yet,” Van Kerkhove told reporters during a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday.
“The explanation for this are the mutations which can be inside this subvariant of Omicron allowing this virus to stick to the cell and replace easily,” she said.
Experts say XBB.1.5 is just as expert at dodging antibodies from vaccines and infection because the XBB and XBB.1 variants and binds more tightly to cells, which supplies it a growth advantage.
Thus far, XBB.1.5 has been detected in 29 countries, and will change into more widespread, Van Kerkhove warned.
“The more this virus circulates the more opportunities it should must change,” Van Kerkhove added. “We do expect further waves of infection all over the world but that doesn’t must translate into further waves of death because our countermeasures proceed to work.”
As XBB.1.5 is working toward becoming the dominant COVID strain within the US, China is battling its own national surge of cases. After reversing its draconian “zero-COVID” policy last month in response to social unrest, Chinese hospitals and funeral homes have change into inundated.
Graphic images shared online appear to indicate families in China burning the bodies of their family members within the streets as a consequence of the increasing spread of the virus making it unimaginable for a lot of to carry traditional funeral services.
As China struggles to handle its current spike, the US and a growing variety of other countries at the moment are requiring travelers coming from China to check negative for coronavirus before boarding their flights.
US and global health officials say Beijing has not been forthcoming enough with details about its current spike in infections.
“We proceed to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths as well more comprehensive real-time viral sequencing,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.
“WHO is anxious in regards to the risk to life in China and has reiterated the importance of vaccination, including booster doses to guard against hospitalization, severe disease and death.”
The most recent Omicron subvariant, XBB1.5, is probably the most transmissible strain of COVID yet — but doesn’t appear to make people sicker, the World Health Organization has said.
XBB.1.5 has spread quickly across the northeastern US and accounts for about 41% of confirmed COVID cases across the nation, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, warned that the number of individuals infected with XBB.1.5 has doubled within the US about every two weeks.
“It’s probably the most transmissible subvariant that has been dectected yet,” Van Kerkhove told reporters during a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday.
“The explanation for this are the mutations which can be inside this subvariant of Omicron allowing this virus to stick to the cell and replace easily,” she said.
Experts say XBB.1.5 is just as expert at dodging antibodies from vaccines and infection because the XBB and XBB.1 variants and binds more tightly to cells, which supplies it a growth advantage.
Thus far, XBB.1.5 has been detected in 29 countries, and will change into more widespread, Van Kerkhove warned.
“The more this virus circulates the more opportunities it should must change,” Van Kerkhove added. “We do expect further waves of infection all over the world but that doesn’t must translate into further waves of death because our countermeasures proceed to work.”
As XBB.1.5 is working toward becoming the dominant COVID strain within the US, China is battling its own national surge of cases. After reversing its draconian “zero-COVID” policy last month in response to social unrest, Chinese hospitals and funeral homes have change into inundated.
Graphic images shared online appear to indicate families in China burning the bodies of their family members within the streets as a consequence of the increasing spread of the virus making it unimaginable for a lot of to carry traditional funeral services.
As China struggles to handle its current spike, the US and a growing variety of other countries at the moment are requiring travelers coming from China to check negative for coronavirus before boarding their flights.
US and global health officials say Beijing has not been forthcoming enough with details about its current spike in infections.
“We proceed to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths as well more comprehensive real-time viral sequencing,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.
“WHO is anxious in regards to the risk to life in China and has reiterated the importance of vaccination, including booster doses to guard against hospitalization, severe disease and death.”
