India reports first case of Omicron's XBB.1.5 variant that's behind US surge

New Delhi, Dec 31: First case of Omicron's XBB.1.5 that is driving the current surge in Covid cases, has been confirmed in India this December, data of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) showed.

International researchers have identified the sub-variant XBB.1.5 as the cause of an increase in Covid cases and hospitalisations in New York. As per the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the variant has overthrown BQ.1 and the BQ.1.1 sub-variants as the dominant one. The XBB.1.5 variant is estimated to be the culprit for as many as 40.5 percent new infections in the US. In some American states, the numbers for XBB.1.5 variant infections are as high as 75 percent.

Providing more information about it, Virologist Eric Feigl Ding on his official Twitter account said that there is a new recombinant strain XBB15, which is likely to become the 'next big thing'. XBB15-a new recombinant strain-is both more immune evasive & better at infecting than BQ & XBB variants.

He also said that multiple models shows that XXB15 variant is much worse in transmission R value and infection rate than previous variants.

"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, in an interview with Reuters.

But according to US scientist Eric Topol, its descendant, XBB.1.5, is thought to have a tighter bind to the ACE2 receptor, which would account for its increased level of transmissibility.

XBB.1.5 has been detected in at least 74 countries and 43 US states, according to outbreak.info which uses data from the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID). The symptoms of the Omicron XBB sub-variant lineage include breathing difficulty, headache, sore throat, nasal blockage, body ache, fatigue and fever.

However, India shouldn't be worried unless there is an entirely new variation lineage. But experts do encourage to exercise caution.