The United Kingdom has discovered two new Covid-19 strains that may be immune to vaccines, according to health officials.
Nationwide, 717 cases of the BQ.1 variant and 18 cases of the XBB variant have been identified.
Both variations may be impervious to immunizations and are highly immune evasive, according to specialists cited by The Independent.
There has been an increase in cases in Singapore, where more than half of the global cases for the XBB variation have been identified, and this is believed to be a contributing factor to the increase in infections there.
Both BQ.1 and VBB are descended from the highly transmissible Omicron variety, and experts have cautioned that a lack of testing could result in the omission of an increase in infections.
The UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) stated that investigations were being conducted to evaluate the new varieties.
Experts at the Biozentrum research lab at the University of Basel cautioned that a “swarm” of these Covid-19 variations could result in a “major” new wave of cases across Europe before the holiday season.
Cornelius Roemer, a computational biologist at Biozentrum, remarked that the present virus tendencies were substantially different from those of the past.
According to him, Omicron was maybe the first immune-evasive variation, which is why it produced such a significant increase in infections and a wave of Covid-19.
“Now, for the first time, we are witnessing the simultaneous emergence of numerous lineages and variations that share extremely similar mutations and are able to circumvent immunity with relative ease,” he continued.
Professor Lawrence Young of the University of Warwick’s Department of Virology expressed alarm last month that the United Kingdom was “blind” to new subvariants and their capacity to evade protection.
It demonstrates that we are not yet out of the woods with this virus, he said, citing the growing number of infections caused by these new variations as the greatest cause for concern.
Professor Young continued, “We can only find variations or know what’s coming by performing sequencing from PCR testing, and this practice is not nearly as prevalent as it was a year ago.”
UKHSA’s Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections, Dr. Meera Chand, stated:
It is not surprising that additional varieties of SARS-CoV-2 would develop. Neither BQ.1 nor XBB have been designated as Variants of Concern, and the UKHSA is, as always, closely monitoring the situation.
‘Vaccination is our strongest defense against future COVID-19 waves, thus it is as vital as ever for individuals to receive all of the doses for which they are eligible as soon as feasible.’