WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press conference that the organization is “closely monitoring and assessing the risks” of this variant, which is “spreading rapidly,” and will “report accordingly” with the new data that is obtained.
The Omicron variant XBB.1.5 of the SARS-CoV-2 variant results from a recombination of two BA.2 sublines and has already been detected in 29 countries, including the United States, where it already accounts for about 40% of covid-19 cases.
According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, this variant “may be more transmissible,” though it is still unknown if it would have “more serious” effects.
Maria van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead in response to covid-19, went even further and said today, in a video briefing, quoting AFP, that XBB.1.5 “is the most transmissible sub-variant yet discovered.” right Now”.
The WHO Technical Advisory Group on the Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 said, in a statement, that it is assessing the “rapid increase in the proportion” of the variant in the United States and in other countries.
Covid-19 is an infectious respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, a type of virus that was discovered three years ago in China and spread rapidly around the world, after many variants and sub-variants were assumed, some of which are more contagious than others.
The disease has been an international public health emergency since January 30, 2020, and a pandemic since March 11, 2020.
