One of dominant coronavirus strains in China XBB found in Pak

PAKISTAN: One of the most dominant strains of coronavirus in China and an Omicron subvariant XBB's presence has been confirmed in Pakistan, according to National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad and Aga Khan University (AKU), The News International reported. "Once, we have this variant on our soil, we would see a surge like we saw when the original Omicron variant started infecting people in Pakistan. There was a sharp rise in the Covid-19 cases, which is not happening at the moment," The News quoted Khan as saying.

The XBB subvariant, from which XBB.1.5 descends, is a recombinant of two subvariants that descended from the BA.2 omicron subvariant. That means it carries genetic data from two versions of the coronavirus that originated from the BA.2 subvariant, The Hill reported. The omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 makes up to 40.5 per cent of new infections across the United States, according to The Hill citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the CDC, the XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant as of this week has pushed out the BQ.1 and the BQ.1.1 subvariants from their previous positions as the most detected coronavirus mutations. According to the most recent information available on Covid-19, only 12 out of 3,062 tests completed over the past 24 hours revealed a positivity rate of 0.39 per cent, the NIH authorities said.

They also noted that no deaths had happened in the nation the previous day and that there were just 11 people in serious condition nationwide. "Genomic surveillance is underway at NIH Islamabad. However, due to low positivity, only a few samples are available for sequencing. Our last batch showed increased cases of Omicron XBB," an official of the NIH Islamabad confirmed to The News on Monday.

However, the country has not found traces of highly infectious strain -- BF.7. On the other hand, a senior molecular scientist and professor of pathology at Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) Karachi, Saeed Khan opined that the BF.7 variant has not yet entered Pakistan, stating that once it does, a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases would sweep across Pakistan, announcing its presence in the country.

He claimed that the BF.7 variation is so contagious that only one individual infected with it could infect 18 to 20 additional people and has the capacity to evade both natural and synthetic immunity against Covid-19 re-infections.