For about a week, US health authorities have claimed that Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant has taken over as the dominant strain in the transmission of COVID-19 in the United States. However, there are still only a handful of these cases listed in Quebec.
There is still no trace of the XBB.1.5 subvariant in the online data of the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) and it will be necessary to wait a few more weeks before observing its progression.
According to information provided by the medical director of the Laboratoire de santé publique du Québec (LSPQ), the DD Judith Fafard, seven cases of XBB.1.5 were identified through the sequencing of samples during the month of December.
Of these, five cases would be linked to the circulation of the virus in the community and two others would come from travellers.
And in a few weeks?
According to the DD Fafard, the XBB.1.5 subvariant accounted for approximately 0.5% of all SARS-CoV-2 infection cases during Christmas week in Quebec. We say “approximately” since statistical data below the 2.5% threshold is considered not reliable enough to be published by the INSPQ.
In addition, only variants whose prevalence reaches at least 1% are displayed in the table available on the INSPQ website. Thus, we should still not see the famous XBB.1.5 emerging during the next data update next week.
The microbiologist-infectiologist estimates that Quebec may have a few weeks ahead of it before seeing XBB.1.5 replace the current dominant strain, BQ.1.1.
From what has been observed so far in subvariant XBB.1.5, this is a more contagious mutation of the virus because it seems to more easily circumvent immunity in its hosts and because that it clings better to cell receptors.
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