Warning that the Covid-19 pandemic is still not over, Chief scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Soumya Swaminathan said that some countries may face ‘another wave of infections’ with the XBB variant of Omicron.
The strain has been noticed in a few states but the cases are said to be mild. While talking to the reporters, Swaminathan explained that there are no data from any country to propose that these new variants are more impactful.
“There are over 300 subvariants of Omicron. I think the one that is concerning right now is XBB, which is a recombinant virus. We had seen some recombinant viruses earlier. It is very immune-evasive, which means it can overcome the antibodies. So slightly that we may see another wave of infections in some countries because of XBB,” she said.
In August, the XBB variant was discovered in Singapore. Till now, it has appeared in 17 countries. The WHO scientist stressed that the WHO team is tracking different derivatives of BA.1 and BA.5, which are highly exchangeable and immune-evasive.
Though the lockdown is over, it seems that the public still has to keep themselves safe from COVID. The scientist added that precautions and tools should be used as the pandemic is still not over. She added that the COVID pandemic is not over yet.
