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Despite intensive public health efforts to grind the COVID-19 pandemic to a halt, the recent emergence of the highly transmissible, extensively drug-resistant and profoundly immune system-evading XBB.1.5 SARS-CoV-2 subvariant is putting the global community on edge.

Omicron's latest sub variant in the news is the XBB.1.5. This is the superior form of the recombinant XBB which is dominant in transmission rate or in other words spread ability.

The sub variant was first detected in the US in October last year and is said to be the most transmissible variant of the coronavirus. The subvariant accounted for about 30% of cases in the first week of January, which is higher than the 27.6% the CDC estimated last week, the Reuters reported.

According to the World Health Organization, XBB.1.5 is circulating in at least 38 countries, with the highest prevalence in the United States, where it accounts for approximately 43 per cent of COVID-19 cases nationwide. Within the U.S., there is wide geographic variation in the proportion of cases caused by XBB.1.5, ranging from seven per cent in the Midwest to over 70 per cent in New England.

INSACOG data showed on Monday, a total of 26 cases of COVID's XBB.1.5 has been found in India so far. The variant has been in 11 states and Union territories till now, including Delhi, Maharashtra and West Bengal. The XBB.1.5 is behind the massive surge in COVID cases in the United States.