Eyes on the XBB.1.5 subvariant of the SarsCoV2 virus, also known as “Gryphon”: this recent member of the now very numerous Omicron family could be one of the main causes of the surge in the Covid-19 epidemic in China. Together with the easing of restrictions, the sub-variant that has been in circulation since last October would play an important role in pushing infections and hospitalizations ever higher.
At the moment there are no certainties, also because the scientific data provided by China are few, as are the genetic sequences of the virus deposited in the Gisaid international bank. That it is the mutating virus that is causing the epidemic to soar is therefore still a hypothesis, but experts are considering it very seriously. In China “something very important is happening: the number of deaths from Covid is uncontrollable and so far there has only been a hint of the possibility that one or more new variants are circulating”, observes the virologist Francesco Brcolo, of the University of Salento.
Under the lens XBB.1.5
There is no shortage of candidates, but at the moment the focus is on XBB.1.5, which has been circulating in China since October and which is the result of the recombination of two other Omicron subvariants: BA.2.1 and BA.2.1. “A real swarm of variants is circulating, but the XBB is rapidly replacing common subvariants, such as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1”, says the expert.
Subvariant widespread in nine other countries
The same subvariant quickly spread to at least nine other countries, six of which are European. In addition to Italy, where as of December 27 it constituted 1.82% of the SarsCoV2 virus in circulation, XBB was detected in France (1.22%), Belgium (4.56%), Germany (2.05% ), Spain (2.61%) and the United Kingdom (5.44%) as indicated by the Our World in Data website, citing the data relating to the genetic sequences of the virus deposited in the Gisaid international database. The XBB is also present in Australia (3.33%), Canada (1.93%) and the United States (13.42%). Here, in particular, it appears to be related to the recent 140% increase in hospitalizations in New York over the past month.
Maximum attention on airports
The virus is therefore circulating in a lively way and it is for this reason, observes the geneticist Massimo Zollo, coordinator of the Covid-19 Task Force of the Ceinge of Naples, that “checks would be necessary at the airports not only on direct flights arriving from China, but on indirect ones» and also «more active action is needed for the diffusion of antiviral drugs and to continue researching the variants, to understand what could happen from now to two months».