The Centre on Thursday debunked a fake message regarding the Covid-19 XBB subvariant of the Omicron strain, that has been circulating on social media amid a surge in infections in China.
According to the World Health Organization, the XBB subvariant has originated – or formed as a mutation of – from two strains of BA.2, the BA.2.75, a fast circulating variant, and BJ.1, of the Omicron variant of the virus. The XBB is also identified as a recombinant virus as it exhibits the characteristics of its different strains.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare shared the message on Twitter and clarified that it was fake and misleading.
The message claimed that the new variant of the Covid-19 Omicron XBB virus is “different, deadly and not easy to detect correctly”. The message also said that the symptoms of the variant exclude cough and fever and only include joint pain, headache, pain in the neck, upper back pain, pneumonia and lack of appetite.
On Wednesday, the Centre advised people to wear masks in crowded areas and directed officials to remain alert and strengthen surveillance as the BF.7 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 drives up global infections.
In India, four cases of the BF.7 sub-lineage have been identified through genome sequencing in Gujarat and Odisha, two unidentified officials from the ministry of health told The Hindu.
Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have warned of successive waves of Covid-19 infections over the coming months as the country has been experiencing a surge in hospitalisation, reported The Guardian. The current outbreak would peak this winter and run in three waves for about three months, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Wu Zunyou had said earlier this week.
The World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the agency needs more information about admissions to hospitals and the requirements of intensive care units to assess the situation related to the virus in China.
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