Countries deserve to advise passengers to wear masks on long-haul flights to counter the new Omicron subvariant given its immediate spread in the United States, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Tuesday.
In Europe, the XBB. 1. 5 subvariant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is being detected in small but developing amounts, WHO/Europe said at a press conference.
Passengers will be asked to wear masks in high-risk settings, such as long-haul flights, said Catherine Smallwood, WHO’s emergencies chief for Europe, adding: “This is advice issued for passengers arriving from anywhere there is COVID-19 transmission. “
XBB. 1. 5, the maximum transmissible subvariant of Omicron thus detected, accounted for 27. 6 percent of COVID-19 cases in the U. S. It was in the U. S. during the week ending Jan. 7, U. S. fitness officials said. U. S.
It is still unclear whether XBB. 1. 5 will cause its own wave of infections worldwide. Current vaccines continue to oppose severe symptoms, hospitalization and death, experts say.
“Countries want to take a look at the testing base for testing before departure,” Smallwood said, noting that it wasn’t to focus exclusively on a specific geographic area.
If actions are envisaged, he said, “our view is that the measures deserve to be implemented in a non-discriminatory manner. “
That doesn’t mean the company has tests for U. S. passengers. “The U. S. government is in the U. S. right now, he said.
The measures that can be taken come with genomic surveillance and targeting passengers from other countries, as long as this diverts resources from national surveillance systems. Others come with sewage tracking systems around ports of entry, such as airports.
XBB. 1. 5 is still descended from Omicron, the most contagious, and now globally dominant, variant of the virus that causes COVID-19. It is a branch of XBB, first detected in October, which is itself a recombinant of two other subvariants of Omicron.
Concerns about XBB. 1. 5 fueling a new wave of cases in Canada, the U. S. and Canada, and Canada,The U. S. Department of Health and beyond is emerging alongside a surge in COVID cases in China, after the country moved away from its “zero COVID” policy last month.
According to data reported by the WHO earlier this month, a study by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed a predominance of Omicron’s BA. 5. 2 and BF. 7 sublineages among acquired infections.
Many scientists, adding from the WHO, that China is probably underestimating the true extent of its outbreak.
More than a dozen countries, plus Canada and the United States, require COVID from travelers from China.
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