Alarm in the US due to a new variant of covid-19 XBB.1.5 0:45
(CNN) --
Health experts raised concerns Wednesday about the rapid growth of omicron's new XBB.1.5 subvariant, advising the public to stay informed but not alarmed as they work to learn more.
During the month of December, the percentage of new covid-19 infections in the United States caused by XBB.1.5 increased from an estimated 4% to 41%.
“This is an impressive increase,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House response coordinator for Covid-19, wrote in a Twitter thread.
World Health Organization officials shared similar thoughts on Wednesday.
“We are concerned about its growth advantage,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist and WHO technical lead on Covid-19.
Van Kerkhove noted that XBB.1.5, which was first detected in the United States, has spread to at least 29 countries and "is the most transmissible form of omicron to date."
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How is the new variant of the covid XBB.1.5 and why is it spreading rapidly
“We expect more waves of infection around the world, but that doesn't have to translate into more waves of death because our countermeasures continue to work,” he said.
Jha pointed out that effective tools to avoid severe covid-19 infections include rapid testing, use of high-quality masks, indoor air ventilation and filtration, oral antiviral pills, and up-to-date vaccinations.
“We will have more data soon on how well the vaccines neutralize XBB.1.5,” Jha said, suggesting that research is underway to determine the vaccine's effectiveness against the new subline.
Jha said that XBB.1.5 is probably the most capable of breaking through our immune defenses and may be the most contagious.
But he said it's not yet clear whether it causes more serious disease, something Van Kerkhove also noted.
He said that the WHO is working on a risk assessment for this subvariant and hopes to publish it in the coming days.
The group's technical advisors are analyzing real-world data on hospitalizations and laboratory studies to assess severity.
Jha said that while he is concerned about XBB.1.5, he does not think it represents a big setback in the fight against covid-19.
"And if we all do our part," he wrote, "we can reduce the impact it will have on our lives."
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