WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are today investigating a new variant of COVID-19 known as XBB, which accounts for three percent of all new infections in the United States.
The strain’s prevalence is growing the most in the Northeast so far, the agency estimates, as it causes more than five percent of infections in regions from New Jersey to Maine.
XBB is behind a large number of infections in some South Asian countries and accounts for an increasing proportion of reported virus sequences from around the world and from inbound international travelers.
The CDC released preliminary estimates suggesting that XBB could proportionally double every 12 days, a faster rate compared to the currently dominant BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants in the country.
However, key officials and experts in President Joe Biden’s administration say they don’t see a similar threat in XBB as the Omicron variant that surfaced a year ago.
According to the source, the BA.5 variant has dropped to less than one in five new infections nationwide and BA.4 has virtually disappeared.
XBB, first named by scientists last September, is thought to be a combination of two different subvariants of Omicron, BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75, that emerged earlier this year.
It’s the latest in a host of strains dominant today that carry mutations with the potential to evade key COVID-19 antibody drugs.
However, according to Derek Smith, director of the Center for Pathogen Evolution at the University of Cambridge, it does not appear to be particularly serious compared to other variants. (Text and photo: PL)
Comments
Your email address will not be published *