What Is Omicron 'XBB Variant'? New Subvariant That Is Causing Spike In India's COVID Cases

The new Omicron XBB subvariant has now recorded 71 cases across multiple Indian states, with Maharashtra reporting its first five cases on October 13, joining Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal on the list. According to News18 reports, Odisha reported 33 infections in a fortnight, followed by West Bengal (17) and Tamil Nadu (16).

Since August, the Omicron XBB strain, which is also known as the BA.2.10, has been reported in numerous nations, including Bangladesh, Australia, Denmark, Japan, the United States and India.

With the number of XBB COVID cases in Singapore going up, the health ministry stated that there is still no evidence of the subvariant triggering a severe outcome. As the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated Omicron as a "variant of concern," its second-generation variants and offspring are also being treated similarly.

India & COVID XBB Subvariant!

In India, researchers of genome sequencing were quoted as saying in the report mentioned above that BA.2.75 was responsible for approximately 88 per cent of new infections. At the same time, the XBB Omicron subvariant was responsible for around 7 per cent of all cases reported as well. The prevalence of BA.5 in samples is now less than 5 per cent.

Currently, the XBB Omicron variant is dominating all other Omicron sub-variants in Singapore. Research also revealed that XBB had been found in many parts of the world, but it is spreading rapidly in Singapore. Within three weeks, it had grown to account for more than half of all daily cases there, he added.

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