More cases of omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 in countries that saw lower prevalence of XBB.1.5 subvariant earlier and vice versa, says WHO
Over 768 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed and over 6.9 million deaths have occurred globally since 2020. Photo: iStock Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in 2020, over 768 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed and over 6.9 million deaths have occurred globally. Between May 22 and June 18 this year, India recorded over 7,000 new cases and over 60 deaths.
On May 5, 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to the disease as a global health emergency. However, the cases are still being monitored by the global health body in a weekly bulletin.
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India recorded 7,019 new cases and 63 new deaths, according to a 28-day bulletin with data from May 22 to June 18. The data was compiled in the last weekly epidemiological update published on June 22.
Other than India, in the South East Asia region, Thailand and Indonesia, reported the highest number of COVID cases, with 10,922 and 9,038 cases respectively. The two countries also recorded 239 and 170 deaths each.
China, which is in WHO’s Western Pacific region, saw 246 new deaths. This is less than one new death per 100,000 population.
The South East Asia region reported over 32,000 new cases, a 78 per cent decrease compared to the previous 28-day period prior to May 22. This was the case across all WHO regions, which all reported decreases in COVID cases.
However, this data varies country-wise.
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At the country level, the highest numbers of new cases over the 28-day period were reported from the Republic of Korea (363,382 new cases), Australia (135,144 new cases), Brazil (85,987 new cases), France (71,197 new cases), and Singapore (54,581 new cases), the report stated.
“The highest numbers of new 28-day deaths were reported from Brazil (978 deaths), Spain (729 deaths), the Russian Federation (577 deaths), Australia (496 deaths), and Italy (420 deaths),” the bulletin added.
Only in African countries, the number of deaths increased during the 28-day period as the mortality rate increased by 5 per cent compared to the previous 28-day period.
The African continent as a whole reported 22 new deaths. The highest cases were found in Zimbabwe, with 11 new deaths and Cameroon and Mauritius reported two each.
The update also highlighted that two sub-variants of Omicron, XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16, comprised 45.27 per cent of the sequences in circulation from May 29 to June 4, 2023.
The WHO relies on data shared through Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data — the virus genome database.
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“In epidemiological week 22 (29 May to 4 June 2023), XBB.1.5 accounted for 23.3 per cent of sequences, as compared to 36.7 per cent in week 18 (May 1-7, 2023). XBB.1.16 has been reported from 85 countries. In week 22, XBB.1.16 accounted for 21.9 per cent of sequences, an increase from 14.1 per cent in week 18,” the report stated.
The other six variants under monitoring include BA.2.75 (124 countries), CH.1.1 (93 countries), XBB (127 countries), XBB.1.9.1 (95 countries), XBB.1.9.2 (77 countries) and XBB.2.3 (56 countries).
The data “indicates that countries with a low prior prevalence of XBB.1.5 have experienced a significant increase in the prevalence of XBB.1.16” and vice versa, according to the WHO update.
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