According to the latest report from Public Health France, the recombinant variant XBB and its sub-lineage XBB.1.5 represent more and more cases of Covid-19. But the BA.5 variant remains the majority.
It is slowly but surely establishing itself in France. The recombinant XBB variant, born from a combination between two Omicron sub-variants, represented 9% of the sequences on January 16, against 3% on January 9, we learn from Public Health France (SpF) in its update of February 9.
“Among the recombinant XBB sublines, XBB.1.5 increased the fastest, from 2% for Flash S02 to 7% for Flash S03-2023,” the health agency said.
“These circulation dynamics between the Omicron sub-lineages observed in mid-January have not yet impacted the epidemic dynamics”, adds SpF.
However, XBB.1.5 was already seriously worrying the European authorities a month ago.
The most transmissible sub-variant since the start of the pandemic, it threatened in mid-January to become the dominant strain in European countries “within one to two months”, had alerted the health agency of the European Union (ECDC ).
It clearly has a “growth advantage”, also declared Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical manager on Covid-19, as XBB.1.5 surged in the United States, which has now become dominant in this country.
Last October, the high contagiousness of big brother XBB also led to a resurgence of the Covid-19 epidemic in Singapore.
If they do not seem more harmful than other variants, a study published in the American journal Cell in January 2023 shows that XBB and its descendants are highly resistant to the vaccine or to previous infection with other Covid-19 variants.
Low level of virological indicators
In France, the BA.5 variant currently remains the majority (78%), although it is decreasing, with its BQ.1.1 sub-lineage which represented 59% on January 16.
SpF also notes a resurgence of the BA.2 sub-lineage (from 7% to 11% between January 9 and 16), which sparked a sixth wave in France last March.
However, in this first week of February, the virological indicators are green and even continue to decline. The incidence rate is 38, down 20% from the previous week.
The hospitalization rate is down in most regions (-19%), as well as the number of deaths (-31%).
