There are about 25 cases of a new “highly contagious” variant of Covid-19 in the UK and it is also a cause for concern in the United States of America (USA) due to its rapid spread leading to an increase in hospitalizations.
In addition to having mutations that help infect people more quickly, this strain called XBB.1.5, a version of Micron, is able to resist vaccination or previous infection.
This is a “call to attention”, according to experts who have warned of the need to strengthen the NHS. However, there is still no indication that this variant can cause a more serious health condition or worse symptoms than the previous ones.
Data from the Sanger Institute, one of the UK’s largest Covid-19 monitoring centres, shows that four per cent of cases, which were counted during the week ending December 17, resulted from this. torsion.
This is the first time that XBB.1.5 — which was discovered in August in India — has integrated the institute’s Virus Dashboard, which is updated weekly, given that It caused cases to quadruple in just one month in some countries.
The emergence of this strain, which is a fusion between the BJ.1 and BA.2.75 variants, is an “alert” and could exacerbate the crisis of the National Health Service in many countries, warned virologist at the University of Warwick, in the United Kingdom, Lawrence Young in Confirmation that “the XBB.1.5 variant is highly contagious and leads to an increase in hospitalizations in New York, especially among the elderly.”
“Lowered immunity, more time indoors exposing the body to changing temperatures and a lack of other precautions, such as the use of face masks, also contribute to the outbreak in the US,” Young explained to the Daily Mail.
As the year begins, this concern also appears, underlining the need to remain vigilant. “We need to continue to monitor infection levels with different variants, encourage those who qualify to receive booster vaccines and strengthen other mitigation measures,” the expert advised.
According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday, XBB.1.5 is responsible for 41% of cases and has caused an increase in coronavirus hospitalizations across all states.
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