Omicron XBB 1.5 accounts for about half of US cases: CDC

• CDC: Omicron XBB.1.5 is predicted to account for about half of Covid-19 cases in the US.
• The subvariant has been rapidly gaining ground in the US, notably in the northeast.
• It is an outgrowth of XBB, a mixture of two different Omicrons sub-variants.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday, the quickly proliferating Omicron XBB.1.5 is predicted to account for about half of Covid-19 cases in the United States, putting it on course to become the predominant subvariant in the nation.

According to estimates, it represented 49.1% of Covid cases in the nation in the week ending January 21, up from 37.2% the week prior.

The subvariant has been rapidly gaining ground in the United States, notably in the northeast. It is an outgrowth of XBB, a mixture of two different Omicron sub-variants.

“XBB.1.5 is an additional mutation on top of the original XBB that people think enabled it to better bind to our human cells and more easily cause an infection,” said Daniel Rhoads, section head of microbiology at the Cleveland Clinic.

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“So I expect that it will continue to grow in the proportion of variants that are causing Covid and become predominant in United States.”

According to CDC data, weekly Covid-19 infections are down after moving slightly up in December and early January.

Epidemiologists say the recent booster doses will provide some protection against severe symptoms, hospitalization, and death, while it is yet unknown if XBB.1.5 can generate its own wave of worldwide infections.

The formerly dominant Omicron subvariants BQ.1.1 and BQ.1, which were offspring of BA.5, have been supplanted by XBB.1.5. In comparison to 48.8% a week earlier, the two strains together accounted for 40.2% of cases in the U.S. in the week ending January 21, according to the CDC.

ausing Covid and become predominant in United States.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, stated earlier this month that XBB.1.5 has been detected in more than 25 countries and has been on the rise globally.

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