A fresh strain of coronavirus branded the “most transmissible” yet by experts is already sweeping across the UK.
Medics at the World Health Organisation have issued a warning over the new variant. The troubling development comes despite the pandemic which gripped the country in 2019 officially being declared over almost a year ago.
Officially tagged XBB.1.5, the new strain is feared to be more deadly than all previous dominant variants. The Daily Star reports how It is thought to be so bad that it has been nicknamed The Kraken.
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Technical lead for Covid at WHO, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, said: 'We are concerned about its growth advantage in particular in some countries in Europe and in the US, particularly the Northeast part of the United States, where XBB.1.5 has rapidly replaced other circulating variants.
“Our concern is how transmissible it is, and the more this virus circulates, the more opportunities it will have to change.”
It has already been stated by experts at CoVariants.org that around eight per cent of cases in the UK are now of the Kraken variant as of Monday (January 2) – and 50 per cent of those in the Wirral have been identified as being of that variant.
Speaking to the Mail Online, Professor Lawrence Young from Warwick University said that the new strain should be a “wake-up call” to the UK.
He said: “'The XBB.1.5 variant is highly infectious and is driving increased hospital admissions in New York, particularly among the elderly.
“Waning immunity, more indoor mixing because of the cold weather and lack of other mitigations, such as wearing facemasks, are also contributing to this surge of infection in the US.
“This is a wake-up call - a sharp reminder that we can't be complacent about Covid.
“The threat of XBB.1.5 and other Covid variants further exacerbating the current NHS crisis stresses the need for us to remain vigilant.”
“We need to continue to monitor levels of infection with different variants in the UK, encourage those who are eligible to get their boosters shots - why not extend this to the under 50s - and promote the value of other mitigation measures.”
Some experts have called on the Government to re-introduce mask wearing in public settings, but no announcement has been made yet.
The UK hasn't released any new country-wide data for Covid cases, but as of last week there was around 37k positive cases across the country, with 14.9million Autumn vaccine boosters administered.
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