Category: Variants
ECDC: Assessment of the XBB.1.5 Kraken variant
The European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has published a risk assessment for the XBB.1.5 Kraken SARS-CoV-2 variant, which we have republished below. 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...
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...
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...