The emergence of the XBB.1.16 variant has created a new surge in COVID cases in the country for almost 6 months. Several experts have earlier cautioned about the variant and World Health Organisation has also called it a ‘variant to watch’.
Vipin M Vashishtha, former convenor of Indian Academy of Pediatrics and consultant paediatrician at the Mangla Hospital and Research Centre, Bijnor, who has been one of the first experts to flag this variant, pointed out ‘amid an ongoing surge, it’s time to take a stock of the situation: what we do know, what we don’t about the variant’.
Accordingly, in a series of tweets, the expert lists known and unknown traits of the variant. Check here: The emergence of the XBB.1.16 variant in India has created a new surge in COVID-19 cases after a gap of more than six months.
This variant has succeeded in achieving a feat that even other variants like BA.5, BQ.1, and XBB.1.5 failed to achieve. XBB.1.16 has replaced some other similar sublineages like XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.9 and has a growth advantage over other circulating XBB variants.