Cases of a new, highly-transmissible Omicron subvariant have risen in Ontario, and the former head of the province’s science table said it will become the next dominant COVID-19 strain.
Speaking to CP24 on Tuesday, Dr. Fahad Razak said subvariant XBB.1.5, also known as the 'Kraken,' has been surging south of the border and it's only a matter of time until Ontario sees a similar jump.
That is a significant jump from weeks ago when only 0.7 per cent of COVID-19 cases were that of the Kraken subvariant. Between Dec. 4 and Dec. 31, there were 105 cases of XBB.1.5 in Ontario. Most of the infected were from the 40 to 59 age group.But that will change soon as Razak said XBB.1.5 has emerged as the most concerning among other Omicron subvariants.That's why Razak said proactive measures should be taken now to blunt the expected Kraken surge.
"So there is a need, I think, now to recognize that we're probably going to see a surge of infections in the coming weeks and talk about what we can do to reduce infection as much as possible."While there is still not much known about the efficacy of the updated COVID-19 vaccines against the subvariant, Razak said it appears XBB.1.5 has a tendency to evade some immune protections and could reinfect people, especially those whose immunizations are out of date.
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