Omicron’s XBB.1.5 Sub-variant explained. Should India be worried of this strain?
Live MintEven as the world is still grappling with the surge of Omicron BF.7 variant, there is a new variant XBB.1.5 which is now raising concerns. All you need to know about Omicron XBB.1.5 variant XBB15–a new recombinant strain—is both more immune evasive & better at infecting than BQ & XBB variants. Whiles speaking to news agency ANI, Rajeev Jayadevan, Co-chairman of the National IMA Covid task force said, XBB.1.5 is an upgraded version of XBB, a recombinant sub-lineage of Omicron that was found a few months ago in multiple countries like Singapore and later in India. Another health expert Dr M Wali, Physician in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi has said that India does not have to worry about the new Covid variant of XBB.1.5 as 90 percent of its eligible population has been vaccinated 30-40 percent have administered booster doses. Ding said that XBB.1.5 is a super variant because, "among most immunity-evasive ‘escape variants’ to date; One of the best variants for invading human cells via ACE2; spreads much faster than old XBB or BQ, and causes hospitalisations wherever dominant" Meanwhile, in India, under the nationwide vaccination drive, a total of 220.11 crore vaccine doses have been administered, of which 95.13 crore have taken the second dose while only 22.41 crore of the population has taken precaution dose.