Mountains and rivers | Explorations by Colin Mathers
Description: Global health trends, summary measures, projections
A new and highly transmissible subvariant of the Omicron Covid18 variant, XBB.1.5, also nicknamed the Kraken, was first identified in the USA in late October 2022. At the beginning of December, Omicron sub variant XBB.1.5 made up just 1.3 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in the U.S. By the week ending 10 February 2023, XBB.1.5 made up an estimated 75% of cases in the USA . Although XBB.1.5 is around 12% more transmissible than over forms of Omicron, there is no evidence that it is any more severe than other f
Analysis from the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium also suggests that XBB.1.5 now makes up 31 per cent of COVID cases in the UK ( as of 9 th February) – that’s double the week before. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has predicted that there is a moderate probability that XBB.1.5 will account for over 50% of infections in Europe within the next month or two. Few cases have been detected to date in Australia , and its unclear whether it will outcompete other variants as it has don
As of 15 February 2023, there were 1,309 named variants and subvariants of Covid-19 listed in the PANGO database and some scientists have started to use nicknames from mythology to make it easier to talk about variants of public interest. XBB.1.1.5 has been given the nickname Kraken, a sea-monster from Norse mythology. Other Omicron subvariants deemed worthy of a name include BA.2.20 (the Basilisk), XBB.1 (the Hippogryph) and BF.7 (the Minotaur). Other Covid experts have objected to the use of these nicknam
Mountains and rivers | Explorations by Colin Mathers