The “most transmissible” COVID-19 variant to date is in Alberta.
On Wednesday, an Alberta Health spokesperson confirmed four cases of XBB.1.5 have been identified in the province.
“We are monitoring this new subvariant and managing cases as they emerge,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Genomic sequencing able to detect the specific subvariant is only done on PCR tests, which in Alberta are restricted to people with high clinical risk from infection or people who live and/or work in high-risk settings.
The new subvariant nicknamed “Kraken” is the result of the recombination of two earlier BA.2 subvariants and is the most transmissible COVID variant yet.
“It is the most transmissible subvariant that has been detected yet,” WHO technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove said. “The reason for this are the mutations that are within this recombinant — this subvariant of Omicron — allowing this virus to adhere to the cell and replicate easily.”
The province encourages Albertans to stay up-to-date on immunizations. Booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are recommended five months after a last dose or most recent infection, with a shorter interval considered for people at high risk of severe outcomes.
“Wearing a mask, especially in crowded indoor settings, can help reduce the risk of becoming sick and help protect others from being exposed,” Alberta Health said.
Dr. Craig Jenne, associate professor at the University of Calgary’s department of microbiology, immunology and infectious disease, said the emergence of a new variant shouldn’t be a surprise.
“We know more variants will continue to emerge. Every time (COVID-19) infects somebody, there’s a risk of mutations leading to yet another variant. And this is a variant that has picked up the ability to be more infectious than its original Omicron version,” Jenne told Global News.
Earlier on Wednesday, Kerkhove said XBB.1.5 has been detected in 29 countries worldwide, including the United States.
“It does have a growth advantage above all of the other subvariants.”
Kerkhove noted there has been rapid spread in the northeast U.S.
Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alberta, said looking at other jurisdictions can be predictive for what waves of a certain variant could bring in this province. Saxinger said she finds it useful to look to the U.K.’s experience.
“At the moment, they are seeing an increase in XBB.1.5, and they have not yet seen a really clearly demonstrated change in the hospitalization intensity,” she said. “In fact, they actually had probably mostly improvement over the winter holiday season.”
Saxinger noted the immunological history of different populations makes it harder to compare places.
The U.S. Centres for Disease Control said XBB.1.5 has quickly become 44 per cent of cases nationally, on the verge of becoming the dominant variant.
“XBB.1.5 may be more transmissible than other variants, but we don’t know if it causes more severe disease,” the CDC said, a sentiment echoed by the World Health Organization.
“I would call it more antibody-evasive because, of course, the immune system does a lot of different things,” Saxinger told Rob Breakenridge on 770 CHQR. “And so far, we haven’t seen a signal that this variant is necessarily more talented at causing severe disease.”
She warns of the possibility of a strain that both transmits easily and has increased disease severity.
“The thing that would really worry me is if we had a strain that had a competitive advantage and right out of the gate looked more severe — like more along the lines of Delta severe — I think that that would be a really concerning development.”
Saxinger said that doesn’t appear to be the case with XBB.1.5.
“We do expect further waves of infection around the world, but that doesn’t have to translate into further waves of death because our countermeasures continue to work,” said Van Kerkhove, referring to vaccines and treatments.
Updated data on Alberta’s COVID hospitalizations, deaths and PCR testing since Dec. 19, 2022, is expected to be released Friday afternoon.
— with files from Reuters
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