UXB – This is simple it refers to an unexploded bomb

XBB – This could be a ticking bomb as it refers to the latest Omicron subvariant of “concern”.

Here is all you need to know (www.independent.co.uk – extract):

XBB is a subvariant of the Omicron BA.2 variant, and XBB.1.5 is a subvariant of XBB.

It emerged as a “recombinant lineage between the second generation Omicron variants”, Professor Kei Sato wrote in a study by University of Tokyo, Hokkaido University and Kyoto University, posted to preprint server bioRxiv.

The Japanese researchers studied XBB’s characteristics in hamsters including transmissibility and immune resistance.

Their results suggested that the subvariant is highly transmissible and has developed resistance to immunity.

In October 2022, the World Health Organisation (WHO) also said there was early evidence to suggest that XBB has a higher reinfection risk, compared to other circulating Omicron subvariants.

However, in a fact-checking article conducted by Reuters in November, its team concluded that there was no evidence that XBB “is more deadly or causes more severe COVID-19 than the Delta variant”.

Where have cases of XBB been reported?

The Omicron subvariants have taken the US by storm as together they accounted for 44.1per cent of the total cases in the country for the week ending December 31.

The subvariants were previously reported as just XBB before this week.

Though the subvariants are currently dominant in the Northeast, they account for fewer than 10 per cent of infections in many other parts of the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday (CDC).

XBB.1.5 has been detected in at least 74 countries and 43 US states, according to outbreak.info which uses data from the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID).

These countries include the UK, China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Australia.