The XBB variant is believed to be to blame for a recent backlog in Singapore instances and has been shown in 35 countries.
A patient takes a Covid-19 (file photo)
The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has designated two new variants of Covid-19 to facilitate studies.
On Friday, UKHSA said the Omicron BQ. 1 and XBB sublines would be monitored by fitness authorities.
XBB is believed to be guilty of a recent accumulation in instances in Singapore and has been shown in 35 countries.
It has several mutations in its spike protein that allow it to evade immunity acquired through vaccination or a past infection. However, Singapore’s fitness government said there is no indication it is causing a more serious illness.
The UKHSA said 18 XBB samples had been uploaded to the GISAID database, which is the world’s largest repository of Covid-19 genome sequences. There are 1,086 samples in the database from around the world.
Neither XBB nor BQ. 1 have been designated lately as variants of concern.
Meanwhile, UKHSA said BQ. 1 had been designated as “fast growing”. A total of 717 samples were uploaded to the GISAID database for analysis.
Dr Meera Chand, UKHSA’s Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections, said: “No new variants of SARS-CoV-2 are expected to emerge. Neither BQ. 1 nor XBB have been designated as variants of fear and UKHSA is tracking the scenario closely, as always.
“Vaccination remains our most productive defense against prolonged waves of COVID-19, so it remains vital that others come in and take all the doses they are entitled to as soon as possible. “
On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said BQ. 1 shows “significant expansion merit over other Omicron sublineages circulating in many settings” and warrants further oversight.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said there is “no evidence” that BQ. 1 causes a more serious infection.
Omicron, which swept the UK last Christmas, remains the dominant variant.
In other developments, data released Friday appears to show that Covid-19 infections in Britain could stabilise.
The total number of other people in private families in the UK who tested positive for the virus stood at 2. 05 million in the week to Oct. 17, virtually unchanged from 2. 01 million last week, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
That’s well below the peak of nearly 4 million reached in early July, when the wave caused by the Omicron BA. 4/BA. 5 subvariants of the virus occurred.
Kara Steel, the ONS’s lead statistician for the Covid-19 infections survey, said the new figures show a “mixed picture”.
“Although infections appear to have slowed in England and are now declining in Wales, they are spreading in Northern Ireland and Scotland,” he said.
In England, the number of other people testing positive for covid-19 in the week to October 17 was 1. 75 million, or about one in 30 people, up from 1. 71 million the previous week, which is also one in 30 people.
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