Health experts have warned of a "variant soup" of Covid strains that are spreading across Europe, Australia and China. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that Omicron's "grandchildren" are now filling the gaps where the previous variant was once rampant.
A health specialist raised the fears, according to the Express, as the UK sees Covid cases rise in late 2022 and now Australian infectious disease specialist Dr Paul Griffin said the world must now tackle the various offspring of Omicron as Covid remains ever-present in most countries.
He warned viewers on the Morning show sunrise to take their updated vaccines as a series of new variants surge across the planet. The several variants he was "watching closely" were emerging strains XBB and BQ.
He explained that among these two are Omicron's "most concerning" offspring in circulation. "Some have described it as a ‘variant soup’, he said. "Perhaps the two most concerning are BQ which is an offshoot of BA.5, which has been detected mainly in Europe and the US, and around 10 per cent of cases globally.
"And the other is XBB which has been causing problems in Singapore and India."
Experts believe Omicron, that is otherwise known as BA.5, has successfully reproduced hundreds of times. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has now identified more than 300 Covid "sublineages", 95 percent of which come from the variant.
Other variants include BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, which have largely replaced Omicron since summer 2022. The two have apparently evolved resistance to immune system defences making them harder for the body to recognise and neutralise.
Their genetic mutations will allow them to circumvent immunity from both the vaccine and immunity from previous infections.
