Coronavirus Update: All about XBB.1.5 COVID variant in India

With a new variant becoming dominant in US, and its first case being reported in Gujarat, concerns are raising fast in the country.

Covid omicron XBB.1.5 variant is becoming dominant in the US and becoming super spreader as well.

XBB.1.5 now represents about 41% of new cases nationwide in the U.S., nearly doubling in prevalence over the past week, according to the data published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The subvariant more than doubled as a share of cases every week through Dec. 24. In the past week, it nearly doubled from 21.7% prevalence.

XBB was first identified in India in August. XBB.1.5 was recently detected in Gujarat is equally immune evasive as XBB.1, but has a much higher hACE2 binding affinity. It is much more contagious.

XBB is a hybrid of two different Omicron BA.2 subvariants. While scientists are still in the early stages of studying the XBB subvariant, they said that an even newer version of that subvariant had emerged, known as XBB.1.5.

Studies have pointed out that Rise of subvariants such as XBB could “further compromise the efficacy of current COVID-19 vaccines and result in a surge of breakthrough infections as well as re-infections.”