By Jim Hoft
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that it is monitoring a new COVID-19 variant known as “XBB,” which is responsible for an estimated 3.1% of all new infections in the United States, according to Yahoo News.
Back in October, health officials in the US said they were tracking a new Covid strain that is being called the “most vaccine-resistant ever” after causing a surge in cases in Singapore.
The recent outbreak of infections in Singapore has been traced to XBB, a “recombinant” of the Omicron subvariants BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75.
“Preliminary research suggests the Omicron subvariant XBB might carry a higher infection risk and be more resistant to neutralizing antibodies from booster vaccine doses and antibody drugs, but more studies are needed, according to Verywell Health.
According to the latest weekly estimates from the CDC, the Northeast is where the strain has spread the farthest. In this week’s CDC’s “Nowcast,” over 5% of infections in the areas spanning New Jersey through Maine are related to XBB.
Per the new @CDCgov "Nowcast" published today
XBB is now being tracked in U.S. variant estimates, at 3.1% of new COVID cases nationwide
BQ.1 (27.9%) and BQ.1.1 (29.4%) together now make up nearly 6 in 10 new infectionshttps://t.co/zH1u8A092J https://t.co/8xVVTKA1Fm pic.twitter.com/L8ri90Od59
— Alexander Tin (@Alexander_Tin) November 25, 2022
Growth curves of BQ.1.1 and XBB in Region 2 (includes New York). The BQ.1s are >70% here and XBB at 5%, highest of US HHS regions pic.twitter.com/cw9TIYllz2
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) November 25, 2022
XBB inherited 5’ part of genome from BJ.1 & 3’ end of genome from BA.2.75, with single breakpoint within RBD of Spike; Spike breakpoint allows it to possess potent antigenic RBD mutations from both BJ.1 & BA.2.75,one of most potent combinations of antigenic RBD mutation; pic.twitter.com/XA1upRg6te
— Prof. Dr. Sanjeev Bagai (@BagaiDr) November 25, 2022
Yahoo News reported: