Omicron XBB Variant’ ‘Rising’ in India: Should You Be Concerned Immunity-Evasive’ Strain?

(CTN News) – 71 Caes Of Omicron XBB Variant have now been reported across multiple Indian states, with Maharashtra reporting its first five cases on October 13, along with Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

News18 reports Odisha reported 33 infections in a fortnight, followed by West Bengal (17) and Tamil Nadu (16).

Omicron XBB, also known as BA.2.10, has been reported in numerous countries, including Bangladesh, Australia, Denmark, Japan, the United States, and India.

Despite the growing number of Omicron XBB COVID cases in Singapore, the health ministry says there’s no evidence that the subvariant causes severe problems.

Due to Omicron’s designation as a “variant of concern” by the WHO, its offspring are also being treated the same way.

India & COVID Omicron XBB Subvariant!

According to the report above, BA.2.75 is responsible for approximately 88 percent of new infections in India.

The Omicron XBB subvariant caused around 7 percent of all cases. BA.5 is now less than 5% in samples.

The Omicron XBB variant is dominating all other Omicron sub-variants in Singapore.

Research also showed that Omicron XBB had been spread rapidly worldwide in Singapore.

He said it accounted for more than half of all daily cases within three weeks.

Is it Dangerous?

“Even though we don’t have all the genomics on the current wave of cases, that’s probably the case (Omicron XBB being more infectious than other variants) since the number of infections has risen over the past few weeks,” Tambyah said, according to the report.

The fact that it’s the leading virus in Singapore proves that it can outrun and outdo other strains, says Dr. Leong Hoe Nam of Rophi Clinic. “Like when Omicron replaced Delta, but much faster,” he said.

So far, it doesn’t seem to be affecting outcomes. The hospitalization numbers are going up, as we’d expect with more cases.

but so far, the growth in severe outcomes seems to be slower than the growth in cases,” Associate Professor Alex Cook, vice-dean of research at Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, said.

Raj Rajnarayanan, a professor at the New York Institute of Technology in Jonesboro, Ark., told Fortune that the new strain is “probably the most immune-evasive yet.”

In a preprint published on Oct. 4, Peking University and Changping Laboratory found that Omicron XBB was the ablest to evade antibody protections.

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