The new coronavirus variant XBB.1.5 may very well be widespread in Europe and Germany inside the coming weeks, an knowledgeable believes.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that XBB.1.5 accounted for nearly half of all new infections within the US.
“It can be said with some prognostic certainty that the variant will become the dominant variant in our country as well,” epidemiologist Hajo Zeeb of the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology in Bremen stated.
“XBB.1.5 is encountering a resurgence of waning immunity in people whose vaccination or infection occurred some time ago,” Zeeb stated.
“First in the US and then subsequently here in Germany.”
However, he stated, the variety of recognized instances of XBB.1.5 in Germany was at present nonetheless very low.
“There is no need to think about new measures yet.”
The variant, found in October, has quickly elevated in frequency within the north-eastern US and has dominated infections since mid-December, stated Richard Neher, head of the Evolution of Viruses and Bacteria Research Group on the University of Basel.
Outside the north-eastern US the variant is much less widespread however was turning into extra prevalent, he stated.
There was little info on the severity of sickness the variant triggered, Neher stated.
Cases and hospitalizations had elevated throughout the US, not simply in areas the place XBB.1.5 was dominant, Neher stated.
That could sign that the severity shouldn’t be considerably completely different from different at present circulating variants, he added.
German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach expressed concern concerning the variant on Thursday.
“Hopefully we’ll get through the winter before such a variant can spread here as well,” Lauterbach wrote on Twitter.
