Rajasthan man, who returned from US, tests positive for XBB 1.5 Covid variant
According to the Rajasthan health department, this is the first case of XBB 1.5 Covid variant in the state
The first case of Covid omicron’s XBB 1.5 variant in Rajasthan has been detected in a man from Sikar who returned from America on December 19, a senior official said on Wednesday. The variant is responsible for driving the sudden surge in cases in the United States.
Chief medical health officer (CMHO), Jaipur, Dr Vijay Foujdar said the man had fever on December 22 and he was tested positive for Covid.“The genome sequencing report arrived today has detected the new variant XBB 1.5,” he said.
Foujdar said the variant is nowhere connected with that of China. The patient is healthy and home quarantined. A medical team has been sent for sampling of relatives and people he came in contact.
Also Read |What is Covid’s new variant XBB.1.5, responsible for over 40% of US cases?
The XBB.1.5 strain is a relative of the Omicron XBB variant, which is a recombinant of the Omicron BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 subvariants. Combined, XBB and XBB.1.5 make up 44 per cent of cases in the US.
Covid-19 variant Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the dominant variant in India with ‘XBB’ being the most prevalent sub-lineage circulating all over the country, the SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) said in its bulletin.
The INSACOG said Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the dominant variant in India. XBB is the most prevalent sub-lineage (63.2 per cent) circulating all over India.