Category: Genome
Sato Lab: Virological characteristics of XBB.1.5
Japan’s Sato Lab have announced new research into the Omicron XBB.1.5 ‘Kraken’ variant, confirming much about what is already known or suspected about its transmissibility.… ...More...
WHO: Rapid Risk Assessment for XBB.1.5 published
The World Health Organisation has issued a rapid risk assessment for the Omicron XBB.1.5 variant (aka Kraken), which we are republishing below.… ...More...
Record Covid deaths in Japan, pneumonia increases in Italy
Just two days ago, the WHO warned of an increase in Covid deaths across the globe.… ...More...
XBB.1.5 the most transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variant so far
Full video of the comments concerning XBB.1.5 at a World Health Organization briefing today.… ...More...
The stunning global growth of XBB.1.5
An incredible new visualisation showing the growth of XBB.1.5 across the globe, created by Mike Honey.… ...More...
Bloom Lab: Why is XBB.1.5 so contagious?
One of the world’s top Covid labs explains how Omicron XBB.1.5 has learned new tricks to become more transmissible than other SARS-CoV-2 variants.… ...More...
XBB.1.5 already outcompeting its closest relatives in England
The latest Sanger Institute data for England show that the recombinant Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 is already outcompeting its familial lineages XBB, XBB.1.1 and XBB.2.… ...More...
XBB.1.5 at a staggering FORTY PERCENT of sequences in the US
These numbers were so shocking that, when they were leaked online yesterday, we didn’t believe them.… ...More...
XBB.1.5 has a much higher hACE2 binding affinity than XBB.1
A new Twitter thread by Chinese researcher Yunlong Richard Cao about XBB.1.5 seems to confirm some of the anecdotal data collected recently about this hypertransmissable subvariant.… ...More...
Denmark’s Covid variant soup is turning into a Covid variant smoothie
When we last checked in October 2022, Denmark had sequenced 120 different Covid variants – this month, they have sequenced 249 Covid variants.… ...More...