Covid-19: New Omicron Sub-variant XBB Records 71 Cases In India, Maharashtra On High Alert

A total of 71 instances of Omicron's new XBB subvariant have been reported from a few states, with Maharashtra reporting its first five infections on Tuesday to join the list of West Bengal, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu. Odisha recorded 33 cases during a fortnight, followed by Bengal with 17 and Tamil Nadu with 16.

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Maharashtra on alert

Sounding alert, the Maharashtra government has also warned that factors such as the winters and the festive season could fuel further spikes in the Covid-19 cases. A health official department bulletin said the XBB variant reported in the state had "growth advantage over BA.2.75 and immune evasive property".

It said that new Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra rose by 17.17 per cent in the 10-16 October period when compared to last week between 3 and 9 October. The rise in the Covid cases were being noticed particularly in densely-populated Thane, Raigad and Mumbai.

The state health department said people must not ignore flu-like symptoms and should get medical advice at the earliest.

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The health department¡¯s health bulletin advised: "They must observe Covid appropriate behaviour at the earliest. Persons with comorbidities need to take extra precaution while visiting public places. Persons suffering with influenza-like illness should avoid public contacts as much as possible."

Kerala on alert too

The Kerala government too has intensified the preventive measures to control the entry or spread of new variants of the virus. Kerala Health Minister Veena George stated on Monday that two new variants of Covid-19 - XBB and XBB1 - are more contagious than the previous ones.

The Kerala health minister has requested everyone in the state especially the elderly ones or those suffering from co-morbidities to be careful. Veena George has requested them to wear masks properly for protection against the Covid-19.

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Initially discovered in Singapore

The BA.2.75 and BJ.1 varieties of Omicron combined to form XBB, which was initially discovered in August in Singapore and the US. Although it's still not apparent if the virus produces serious illness requiring hospitalisation, scientists believe the "recombinant" is good at immune evasion.

Despite an increase in cases, Singapore's health ministry reported that there was still no proof that the subvariant was to blame for serious consequences. Omicron's descendants and second-generation variants are being treated similarly because WHO classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern'.

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Situation in India

According to experts working on India's genome sequencing project, BA.2.75 was responsible for 88 per cent of the nation's new infections, while the XBB subvariant was only responsible for 7 per cent of all cases. The prevalence of BA.5 in samples has now dropped to under 5 per cent.

India on Tuesday reported 1,542 Covid cases and 8 deaths. The deaths included 5 deaths reconciled by Kerala. With this rise, the death toll in the country has reached 5,28,913. The active Covid cases are at 26,449 which is 0.06 per cent of total cases.

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