Text by Corina Tan
As with every holiday and year-end festive season, an expected surge of Covid infections is seen across the globe. While vaccinations have succeeded in preventing deaths, severe infection and hospitalisation, the world remains uncertain if the same measures can be relied on to protect people against the new Covid-19 Sub-Variant XBB 1.5.
Experts claim that the XBB 1.5 is soo contagious. That even if you have avoided Covid – 19 so far, you may get infected. Those who have previously been infected are likely to catch it again. Dubbed on the Twitterverse as the ‘Kraken’. It has the potential to cause the next major Covid wave. Due to its very high transmissibility and ability to evade immunity.
Essentially, everyone is at risk now, even if you are super careful and up-to-date on vaccinations. The XBB 1.5 variant grew exponentially over the month of December. Probably due to the way it appears to bind more tightly to receptors in the human body than its predecessors, coupled with human behaviour such as mass travelling and not masking.
The Covid sub-variant is here
There still remain much unknowns about the XBB 1.5 variant. But what we can be sure of so far is that every Covid-19 infection makes a person vulnerable to the disease and to symptoms of long Covid which is a great concern.
The U.S is seeing a notable growth of the new variant. While some European countries are seeing a steep rise according to the WHO. Reported so far in 25 countries including Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.
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While the WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution is doing a risk assessment on the ‘Kraken.’ Professor Tulio de Oliveira, a scientist who sits on the committee said the situation is complex, particularly given the global context of surging cases after China dropped its zero Covid policy in December. Nevertheless, the WHO said they were still closely monitoring severity with the assistance of laboratory studies and real-world data.
Expected to spread worldwide. People who are in vulnerable groups may experience chronic long-term infections that in turn provide opportunities for the virus to mutate and evolve within a person to escape antibodies. And make itself as infectious as possible. The more this happens, the more mutations we will be dealing with in future.
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