WHO Sounds Alarm About XBB.1.16 That Seems To Be Mutating Rapidly And Spawning Newer Sub-Lineages As Its Starts Its Global Ravage!
XBB.1.16: The technical lead for the
COVID-19 response at the World Health Organization (WHO), Maria Van Kerkhove
e has warned that more attention should be focused on the new SARS-CoV-2 recombinant sub-lineage XBB.1.16 as its starts its ravage in various geolocations across the world.
https://twitter.com/mvankerkhove/status/1641489462461968414
Already preliminary data is showing that the
XBB.1.16 sub-lineage is still evolving rapidly and picking up mutations.
https://github.com/cov-lineages/pango-designation/search?q=%22XBB.1.16%22&type=issues
The XBB.1.16 sub-lineage has a growth advantage over the XBB.1.5 sub-lineage by about 5 to 30 percent and is more transmissible.
https://twitter.com/JPWeiland/status/1641626337432555529
The fact that it spotting worrisome mutations in the ORF9B proteins that has to do with immune response is also worrying many scientists and physicians.
The XBB.1.16 aka Arcturus is a lineage with 5 additional mutations E180V, K478R, and S486P, ORF9b:I5T and ORF9b:N55S. XBB.1.5 doesn’t have these mutations in ORFb.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/covid-19-news-xbb-1-16-variant-is-india-on-the-brink-of-a-new-covid-19-wave
It is believed that the XBB.1.16 which is already a very immune evasive strain that is able to evade antibodies generated by the previous infections and also by vaccines could now be targeting the last frontier in the human host immune defenses and is evolving to completely evade all T Cell immunity and also any other components of the innate or adaptive immunity.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/covid-19-news-is-sars-cov-2-evolving-to-evade-t-cell-immunity-and-also-destroy-t-cells-with-the-debut-of-xbb-1-16,-eg-1,-eu-1-1-and-fd-1-1-variants
In India, the XBB.1.16 sub-lineage has already reached about 66.5 percent prevalence compared to all other SARS-CoV-2 variants and sub-lineages.
https://twitter.com/RajlabN/status/1642035794347958274
While it is still too early to say that the XBB.1.16 sub-lineage is more worrisome and is causing disease severity, the rising hospitalization rates in India are showing signs that the sub-lineage is indeed causing disease severity in those infected.
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Besides India, the XBB.1.16 sub-lineages is also now found in 23 other countries including the United States, Singapore, Thailand, China, Australia and United Kingdom.
https://twitter.com/RajlabN/status/1641790596632264707
In coming weeks, it is expected that most South East Asian countries such Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are expected to see a high rise in XBB.1.16 cases largely due to lack of border and travel restrictions and the ever-increasing numbers of travelers from India.
The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the coming Eid festival among Muslim communities in South-East Asia where is there is increased social interactions and the coming Songkran festivities in Thailand, Laos and Myanmar will also help exacerbate the spread of the XBB.1.16 sub-lineage.
The XBB.1.16 sub-lineage has also started spreading in the United Kingdom and caseloads are expected to start rising again in coming weeks.
https://twitter.com/1goodtern/status/1641162752818331663
The XBB.1.16 sub-lineage is also expected to cause a new onslaught in America as the Holy Week and Easter Holidays approach.
Among the many new sub-lineages of XBB.1.16 emerging, one has already ben designated as XBB.1.16.1.
https://cov-spectrum.org/explore/World/AllSamples/Past6M/variants?nextcladePangoLineage=XBB.1.16.1*
Meanwhile the rest of the newer XBB.1.16 sub-lineages spotting newer mutations have yet to be named but are under observations.
https://github.com/cov-lineages/pango-designation/search?q=%22XBB.1.16%22&type=issues
We can definitely expect to see some exciting developments in the next few weeks especially In India, United Kingdom, United States and South East Asia.
For more on the
XBB.1.16 sub-lineage, keep on logging to Thailand Medical News.
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