Category: Testing
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...
US wastewater shows second-highest ever Covid wave
Wastewater tests conducted by the US firm Biobot are showing the second-highest ever peak in readings for Covid for the entire pandemic. More...
Canada: Two lions test positive for SARS-CoV-2 at Calgary Zoo
Two female lions have tested positive for Covid in Calgary Zoo, Canada, with other animals in the zoo also displaying symptoms. 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...
Covid testing reimposed at US borders for China, Hong Kong and Macau *4 Updates*
The United States has announced today that it is reimposing Covid border controls for visitors from China, Hong Kong and Macau. More...
It’s Britain’s third-largest Covid wave ever, and it’s still climbing…
New figures out today from UK Covid app ZOE show there are currently 3,092,451 symptomatic cases of Covid-19 in Britain, making it the third-largest Covid wave ever, and the wave is still growing. 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...