facebooktwittertelegramwhatsapp
copy short urlprintemail
+ A
A -
Qatar tribune

Kuwait has recorded its first case of COVID-19 infection by XBB.1.5 variant, a sub-variant of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. the country's health ministry announced on Wednesday.

Dubbed “Kraken” by biology professor Ryan Gregory, XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible strain yet.

In a statement, the ministry said the emergence of such variants is expected and does not cause concern, adding that there is a close follow-up of the epidemiological situation by the advisory team on coronavirus developments.

Kuwaiti Ministry of Health also called on the public to take necessary preventive measures.

The XBB.1.5 subvariant now makes up around 28% of US COVID-19 cases, according to projections from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, and its prevalence is on the rise globally. In the Northeastern United States, it seems to have rapidly out-competed the menagerie of other immunity-dodging variants that were expected to circulate alongside one another this winter.

Scientists caution that XBB.1.5’s impact, in the United States and beyond, is still far from clear. The variant might not cause a big surge in infections or hospitalizations in many countries, thanks to high immunity built up from exposure to earlier waves of COVID-19 and vaccinations, particularly recent boosters for individuals most at risk of severe disease.

However, even if XBB.1.5 does not cause big COVID-19 waves, it will be important to track the lineage closely, researchers say. The subvariant bears a rarely seen mutation that might enhance its infectivity — and create an opportunity for further evolutionary gains.

As its name suggests, XBB.1.5 is an offshoot of a SARS-CoV-2 variant called XBB. That lineage is a recombinant of two descendants of the BA.2 lineage that began spiking in early 2022; BA.2 itself is an offshoot of Omicron. XBB’s spike protein has a suite of mutations that boost the variant’s ability to evade antibodies. This has helped XBB to become common over the past few months, particularly in Asia, where it caused a surge in cases in Singapore.

copy short url   Copy
11/01/2023
500