Covid Omicron strain XBB.1.5 in Australia: NSW Health confirms highly transmissible 'Kraken' cases

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New mutant 'Kraken' strain of Covid has landed in Australia as health authorities confirm it's the most transmissible yet: Here's what you need to know

XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant found in testing in Australia before ChristmasNicknamed 'the kraken', it is thought to be responsible for 70 of new cases in USIt is not believed to be any deadlier than previous strains but is spreading faster 

By Peter Vincent For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 19:47 EST, 4 January 2023 | Updated: 19:59 EST, 4 January 2023

The newest and most transmissible form of Covid seen in the three years since the pandemic began was detected in Australia before Christmas.

A 'small number' of cases of the rogue XBB.1.5 subvariant were picked up in the two weeks prior to December 24, New South Wales Health confirmed in a statement on Thursday morning.

In all 59,652 people were diagnosed with Covid-19 in the two weeks to 31 December 2022 in NSW. 

While BR.2 sub variant was the most common found in new cases, the emerging XBB.1.5 strain, nicknamed 'the kraken', arrived down under after taking hold in the United States and Britain.

The newest and most transmissible form of Covid seen in the three years since the pandemic began, XBB.1.5 aka 'the Kraken' was detected in Australia before Christmas

• There is still a highly mixed group of sub-variants circulating, the BR.2 sub variant is the most common. NSW Health continues to monitor emerging sub-variants including XBB.1.5, of which there have been a small number of detections in the two weeks to 24 December 2022.

— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 5, 2023

'NSW Health continues to monitor emerging sub-variants including XBB.1.5, of which there have been a small number of detections in the two weeks to 24 December 2022,' the department announced.

XBB.1.5 is another spinoff of Omicron and has already taken hold in the US where it is thought to be behind roughly 70 per cent of new infections in the worst affected areas.

It has also been picked up in Britain and across Europe, in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland and in Singapore and India.

But XBB.1.5 appears to be just as mild as its ancestor Omicron and its variants.  

While there are concerns about how quickly XBB.1.5 is spreading, it appears to be just as mild as its ancestor Omicron and its other variants

Concern about the new subvariant based on how it is currently surging in the US and Europe.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead for Covid, told a press conference Wednesday: 'We are concerned about its growth advantage in particular in some countries in Europe and in the US... particularly the Northeast part of the United States, where XBB.1.5 has rapidly replaced other circulating variants.

'Our concern is how transmissible it is… and the more this virus circulates, the more opportunities it will have to change.'

Statistics from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed the strain is behind 41 per cent of cases in America.

Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, told MailOnline that the emergence of XBB.1.5 is a 'wakeup call' and could exacerbate the NHS crisis in Britain.

He said: 'The XBB.1.5 variant is highly infectious and is driving increased hospital admissions in New York, particularly among the elderly.

'Waning immunity, more indoor mixing because of the cold weather and lack of other mitigations, such as wearing facemasks, are also contributing to this surge of infection in the US.'

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