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.