Coronavirus: concerns over 40 per cent of US Covid cases caused by Omicron subvariant XBB
- Although concerned about Covid-19 cases in China, infectious disease experts are increasingly worried about the XBB.1.5 subvariant in US
- It is ‘probably the worst variant that the world is facing right now’, said Dr Michael Osterholm, an expert at the University of Minnesota
More than 40 per cent of Covid-19 cases in the United States are now caused by the highly contagious Omicron XBB. 1.5, data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention showed on Friday, with the subvariant doubling from the previous week.
Although many public health experts are expressing concern about the rising Covid-19 cases in China, infectious disease experts have been increasingly worried about the XBB. 1.5 variant.
“Ironically, probably the worst variant that the world is facing right now is actually XBB,” said Dr Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota.
Osterholm added that seven of the 10 US states where cases and hospitalisations are rising are in the Northeast, concurrent with an increase of XBB cases there, he said.
Recombinants of the BA.2 variant, XBB and XBB. 1.5, together accounted for 44.1 per cent of the total cases in the country for the week ending December 31. For the week ending December 24, XBB. 1.5 had made up 21.7 per cent of the total cases.