Reports of infections from the XBB sub-variant of Sars-Cov-2,

the virus responsible for

Covid-19

, have followed in several countries around the world in recent days

.

This was announced by the

World Health Organization

in its latest

weekly update:

as of October 17 there were about

800 samples

of XBB sub-variant sequenced in the world

.

There are two cases in Italy

, according to the periodic

flash survey

of the

Higher Institute of Health

, referred to October 4 and published on Friday of last week: one in Abruzzo, sequenced by the Molecular Genetics laboratory of the University of Chieti, and one in Friuli Venezia Giulia.

First detected in August in Singapore and Bangladesh, it is a

recombinant between two Omicron 2

sub-lineages: BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75, the latter also known as

Centaurus

,

with

14 additional mutations.

"Preliminary laboratory tests", explains WHO, "suggest that XBB is the SARS-CoV-2 variant with the

greatest ability to evade antibodies

identified to date."

However, "

there is no evidence of a greater severity of the disease

".

In Italy, at least until two weeks ago,

by far the most widespread variant remains Omicron 5,

with

93%

of the samples sequenced in the ISS survey.

Omicron 4 is 4.3% and Omicron 2 2.3%.

Overall, infections have started to decline a few days ago, but hospitalizations and deaths remain on the rise.

The slowdown of the pandemic, according to WHO data, actually affects almost the whole world: with the exception of the WHO

Western Pacific

Region (which also includes China) where

infections are up by 11%

.

Omicron 5 is the master everywhere, with 78.9% of samples sequenced globally.