Rising KashmirRising KashmirRising Kashmir
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • News
    • Kashmir
    • City
    • Jammu
    • Politics
  • Health
  • Anchor
  • Features
  • Interview
  • Video
Search

Archives

  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022

Categories

  • Anchor
  • Breaking
  • Business
  • City
  • Developing Story
  • Editorial
  • Education
  • Features
  • Health
  • Interview
  • Jammu
  • Jammu and Kashmir News
  • Kashmir
  • Kashmir Tourism
  • Kath Bath
  • National
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Top Stories
  • Trending
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • Viewpoint
  • World
© 2022 Foxiz News Network. Ruby Design Company. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: New XBB Covid variant is immune evasive says WHO’s Soumya Swaminathan
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Rising KashmirRising Kashmir
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • News
  • Health
  • Anchor
  • Features
  • Interview
  • Video
Search
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • News
    • Kashmir
    • City
    • Jammu
    • Politics
  • Health
  • Anchor
  • Features
  • Interview
  • Video
Follow US
© 2024. All Rights Reserved.
Rising Kashmir > Blog > Breaking > New XBB Covid variant is immune evasive says WHO’s Soumya Swaminathan
Breaking

New XBB Covid variant is immune evasive says WHO’s Soumya Swaminathan

ANI
Last updated: October 21, 2022 5:20 pm
ANI
Published: October 21, 2022
Share
4 Min Read
SHARE

With India reporting a highly infectious new COVID-19 variant, World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan on Friday said that there were over 300 sub-variants and XBB being a recombinant virus is a matter of concern.

She also highlighted that the new variant is immune evasive. “There are over 300 sub-varients of Omicron. I think the one that is concerning right now is XBB which is a recombinant virus. We had seen some recombinant viruses before. It is very immune evasive which means, it can overcome the antibodies. So slightly we may see another wave of infections in some countries because of XBB,” said Swaminathan.

Her remarks came while addressing a media briefing in Pune.

Stressing on the tracking of other derivatives of XBB, she noted, “We are also tracking derivatives of BA.5 and BA.1 which are also more transmissible and immune evasive. As the virus evolves, it is going to evolve more and become transmissible. As of now, there is no data from any country to suggest these new sub-varients are more clinically severe. While the virus is causing an increasing infection in some countries the severity seems to be similar.”

She also underlined the importance of monitoring and said, “We need to continue to monitor and track. We have seen that testing has gone down across countries, the genomic surveillance has also gone down over the last few months. We need to maintain at least a strategic sampling genomic surveillance so that we can keep tracking the variants as we have been doing and studying.”

The senior scientist also called for available tools and highlighted the positives.

“The good thing is that we have many tools and the most important thing is vaccines. For vaccine coverage, our goals are 100 per cent of people over the age of 60 and 100 per cent of healthcare and frontline workers. We have a goal of achieving 70 per cent of the country but subgroups are more important because they are the groups that are most likely to face morbidity and mortality,” she added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Maharashtra recorded a 17.7 per cent rise in coronavirus cases compared to last week, according to a state health department bulletin.

The state has reported new Covid cases including the XBB, a new sub-variant of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has been detected in parts of India, including Kerala.

Apart from this, Maharashtra has reported cases from other sub-variants of Omicron – BA.2.3.20 and BQ.1 variant, which was detected for the first time in India on Monday from the sample of a patient in Pune.

XBB, a recombinant lineage between two Omicron sublineages BJ.1 and BA.2.75, is a fast-spreading variant, which was seen to have caused a spike across Singapore recently.

On Tuesday, a high-level meeting of Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya with the senior health officials regarding the emergence of Omicron’s new sub-variants concluded with the decision to continue masks and COVID19-appropriate behaviour across the country.

The team of scientists, doctors and senior officials has also recommended increasing surveillance and genome sequencing.

The health officials also urged accelerating COVID-19 precaution dose of eligible population on mission mode.

Niti Aayog member VK Paul, Chairperson of COVID-19 working group NTAGI NK Arora, NTAGI officials, NEGVAC officials and other senior health officials were present, as per official sources. (ANI)

PM Modi to address mega congregation of BJP workers in MP’s Bhopal today
G20 Ministers issue Jaipur Call for Action for enhancing access to information for MSMEs
RSETI Ramban imparts skill training to 37 youth
LG Manoj Sinha congratulates Team India on ICC Champions Trophy 2025 victory
Outgoing Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande accorded with Guard of Honour on last day in office

Sign Up For Daily Newsletter

Be keep up! Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Share This Article
Facebook Whatsapp Whatsapp Copy Link Print
Previous Article Befitting reply is being given to those trying to disrupt peace in J&K: LG Sinha
Next Article Cluster University Srinagar proposes new job-oriented courses
Leave a Comment Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected

1MFollowersLike
262kFollowersFollow
InstagramFollow
234kSubscribersSubscribe
Google NewsFollow

Latest News

PM spreading Dalai Lama’s message of peace, harmony across globe: Chugh
Kashmir
July 16, 2025
Ensure timely cyber security audit of websites: Chief Secy
Business
July 16, 2025
Ladakh’s Shahnaz Parveen to Represent India at World University Games in Germany
Sports
July 16, 2025
District Srinagar Carrom Championship 2025-26 to be held from July 29–30
Sports
July 16, 2025

Recent Posts

  • PM spreading Dalai Lama’s message of peace, harmony across globe: Chugh
  • Ensure timely cyber security audit of websites: Chief Secy
  • Ladakh’s Shahnaz Parveen to Represent India at World University Games in Germany
  • District Srinagar Carrom Championship 2025-26 to be held from July 29–30
  • DPS Sgr Students Embark on Transformative Expedition to Zanskar

Recent Comments

  1. Raja Mani Khan on Minor Girl Dies in J&K’s Poonch Landslide
  2. Raja Mani Khan on Srinagar: People gather in big numbers to participate in Muharram procession
  3. Shah on Relief for Employees: J&K Bank Fixes EMI-Credit Mismatch, says JK Bank Chairman
  4. Latif khan on Why Kashmir needs Stronger Private Healthcare and Health Insurance
  5. Sameer farooq mir on Qazi Irfan assumes charge as RTO Kashmir

Contact Us

Flat No 7,Press Enclave, Srinagar, 190001
0194 2477887
9971795706
[email protected]
[email protected]

Quick Link

  • E-Paper
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Top Categories

Stay Connected

1.06MLike
262.5kFollow
InstagramFollow
234.3kSubscribe
WhatsAppFollow
Rising KashmirRising Kashmir
Follow US
© 2025. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?