A new variant of COVID-19 that temporarily spread to the U. S. The U. S. and world has arrived in Australia.
XBB. 1. 5 is a branch of the Omicron variant, which has been described as highly contagious but as virulent as previous strains of the virus.
Professor Robert Booy, an infectious disease expert, told Sky News Australia that his arrival poses a major threat to the network due to vaccination and herbal immunity.
“Our vaccines probably oppose that and we shouldn’t worry too much, even though I called it ‘extra bad boy’ (but) it’s just a way of calling it XBB. 1. 5,” he said Thursday.
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“It’s more transmissible, it’s more active, young and moving, but it’s not more serious, it’s not more virulent, it’s not more likely to get you in the hospital.
“In that sense, our immunity is pretty good, some immune evasion in this new variant, so the antibodies don’t work as well, but the other component of our immune formula called T cells works well to keep us away from the hospital. or even die.
Australia has one of the vaccination rates in the world and enjoys a higher rate of herbal immunity compared to past infections due to early waves of Omicron.
XBB. 1. 5 is a variant of Omicron XBB, which is a recombination of the Omicron subvariants BA. 2. 10. 1 and BA. 2. 75.
The first cases of XBB. 1. 5 were detected in New York State in late October, but now account for about 40% of all COVID-19 cases in the United States.
The symptoms of the new variant do appear to be any other of the classic COVID-19 disease.
The arrival of the variant comes as Australia began requiring travelers from China heading to Down Under to provide a negative COVID-19 check before departing on Thursday amid a surge in cases.
China canceled its pandemic policy and eased restrictions and rules, triggering a primary of the virus.
The lack of genomic or case surveillance has led Australia and several other countries to tighten controls on travelers from China.
The testing requirement is one of Australia’s remaining measures, and Professor Booy said the country’s outlook for COVID-19 is moving in the “right direction”.
“We had 4 waves of Omicron last year and the 4th the fewest hospitalizations,” he said.
“We haven’t had a new variant for more than a year, so this indicates that the virus and the human festival are possibly coming to an end, the virus may have lacked replacement tactics to evade our immune system. Optimistic. “