XBB sub-variant of Covid-19 coronavirus: Indonesia detects first, most contagious local transmission of virus | WORLD

Indonesia found the first case of local transmission of the sub-variant of COVID-19 XBB, also present in countries in the region such as Singapore, where it is the protagonist of most of the new and growing infections in the Asian city-state.

The first confirmed case in Indonesia from sub-variant XBBwhich is a combination of two different Ómicron strainsis a 29 year old female living in Surabayain the eastern part of the island of Java, and had recently traveled to the island of Lombok, confirmed Mohamad Syaril, spokesman for the health ministry on Saturday.

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Syaril echoed the high transmissibility this sub-variant has shown so far Singapore, where there has been a spike in covid-19 hospitalizations due to XBB in recent weeks, although he recalled that his symptoms are generally moderate and his mortality rate is no higher than that of Omicron.

The break-in of XBB in Singapore, which has relaxed anticovid measures in recent months, has prompted authorities to warn against “abandoning all precautions”, after nearly 60,000 infections were recorded last week, up from 41,000 the previous week.

Although the Singapore government is optimistic that hospitals can cope with the increase in cases, it has asked citizens to refrain from going to hospital if they do not have severe symptoms.

On October 19, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to keep the pandemic from covid as an international health emergency in consideration of the uncertainties that persist, in particular regarding the evolution of the virus, which could circumvent immunity.

Although it is obvious that the global situation has improved since the start of the pandemic, the virus continues to change and uncertainty and many risks remain, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

The XBB sub-variant has been identified in at least 26 countriesaccording to WHO, including Asian nations such as Singapore and Indonesia.