A new Covid Omicron subvariant has swept across Asia, with one study suggesting it’s even more evasive and faster spreading than the previous strains which dominated the country.
Omicron XBB - also known as Gryphon - has fuelled surges in Covid rates in parts of Asia, including quickly becoming the dominant strain in Singapore.
There’s growing concern over the strain, branded as a part of a ‘new class’ of Covid subvariants, as evidence indicates it spreads faster and can evade immunity better than past strains.
In Singapore, XBB has quickly overtaken the previous dominant strains Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 - currently the most common variants in the UK.
Whilst at the beginning of October XBB only made up 22 per cent of the country’s infections, Singapore’s Ministry of Health revealed that the week after the variant made up 54 per cent of the country’s Covid cases.
On October 11, there were 11,732 new Covid infections in the sovereign city-state, more than double that of the day before - indicating the strain’s transmissibility.
XBB has also been found in Japan and South Korea as well where, along with other new variants, it is responsible for surging case numbers.
In Bangladesh the variant has been found responsible for a surge in cases.
A number of other countries across Asia have also detected the variant with the Philippines the latest to stumble across the new strain.
Only yesterday the country detected 81 cases of XBB with expectations that number will only grow.
The variant has already been detected in the US and Dr. William Schaffner, a Professor of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Health Policy in the US, said there is “some concern” over the new strain.
XBB is a hybrid version of two previous strains of Omicron and was first detected in India in August 2022.
Since then it has quickly spread across 17 countries, mostly in Asia, but including Denmark and the US too.
A pre-print study from China has said XBB is thought to be concerningly good at evading antibody protection and has also fuelled a rise in reinfections - to the point reinfections make up 17 per cent of Singapore’s new cases.
Alongside that, antibody drugs are thought to be less effective against it as well.
In response to the new strain Singapore has had to “rapidly activate” measures to protect its healthcare system.
The study looking into the new variant said that its emergence in a “new class” of subvariants was “unprecedented”.
It warned: “Such rapid and simultaneous emergence of variants with enormous advantages is unprecedented.”
But so far there is no evidence it causes more severe illness and there remains a lot not known about the subvariant.
However, so far there is no evidence that people in the UK should panic and XBB has not been designated a variant of concern yet either.
Due to largely different demographics, and pandemics, it is difficult to map the impact of XBB from Singapore onto the UK.
Dr Meera Chand, Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections at the UKHSA said: “UKHSA continues to monitor and assess all emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, both in the UK and around the world.
“As we head into winter and cases rise, make sure you have any COVID-19 vaccinations you are eligible for and avoid contact with others if you are unwell or have symptoms of a respiratory infection.”
XBB is just one of the ‘new class’ of Omicron variants the world is watching wearily ahead of winter.
BQ.1, also known as Typhon, a close relative of XBB, has also been responsible for surging cases in parts of Asia as well.
