COVID: Omicron subvariants emerging, Key symptoms to take note of

Several subvariants of Omicron have been traced ever since this variant was traced in 2021. Each subvariant of Omicron is more powerful than its predecessor in terms of transmissibility and immunity evasion ability.

The biggest responsibility in order to thwart COVID infection is to understand the symptoms, and follow safety protocols.

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"There is a lot of diversity in #Omicron right now, with >300 sub lineages circulating. ~95% of those are BA.5 sublineages, ~20% of which are BQ.1 sublineages," WHO Chief Epidemiologist, Maria Van Kerkhove said through a tweet on Thursday.

Kerkhove has been vocal about the need for testing and surveillance ever since COVID was declared a pandemic. "We need better surveillance, sequencing & sharing of data so that rapid & robust analyses can be conducted regularly," she tweeted too.

The common symptoms of COVID which are massively seen among patients these days are:

cough, which grows up to be a chronic cough or bronchitis

fatigue, which is so predominant that a person's daily life is affected with it

headache

fever

runny nose

itchy throat; which is seen often painful and makes it difficult to swallow food

muscle pain

XBB is the recombinant of Omicron's BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 sublineages. It was first reported in Singapore and is currently found to be increasing in India.

As of epidemiological week 40 (3 to 9 October), from the sequences submitted to GISAID, XBB has a global prevalence of 1.3% and it has been detected in 35 countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

As per INSACOG, those infected with XBB subvariant Omicron have mild disease and no increase in severity. The research body's statement gives a hint that severity of disease is not something we should be worried about when it comes to XBB, the transmission rate is what we should be careful about.

"The community need not panic and adherence to coronavirus appropriate behaviour is recommended in the light of ongoing festivities," INSACOG said.

Meanwhile, a sub-lineage of XBB with an additional mutation is also detected (XBB.1).

In view of the rising XBB variant infected COVID cases in the country, there is a need to know the probable risks associated with it.

"There is, however, early evidence pointing at a higher reinfection risk, as compared to other circulating Omicron sublineages," the WHO says, ruling out the fear around severity of the infection. "While further studies are needed, the current data do not suggest there are substantial differences in disease severity for XBB infections," it adds.

On the potential of the XBB variant to start a new COVID wave, it says: Whether the increased immune escape of XBB is sufficient to drive new infection waves appears to depend on the regional immune landscape as affected by the size and timing of previous Omicron waves, as well as the COVID-19 vaccination coverage.

The other sub variants of Omicron which are in circulation are BA.5 and its subvariant BQ.1.

BA.2.75 was predominant in India a few months before.

BJ.1, BA.4.6 are the sub variants of BA.2 and BA.4 Omicron variants respectively.