Few days before WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove said that the new variant XBB 1.16 is the “one to watch for”. She also said that the virus needs to be monitored closely.

“We are very concerned about the potential of the virus to become more severe,” she had said.

The pace at which the XBB 1.16 has spread across India is a thing to worry about. “XBB.1.16 has succeeded in creating a new, significant surge in India after a gap of >6 months. A feat that even BA.5, BQ.1 & XBB.1.5 failed to achieve!,” Dr Vashishtha has tweeted.

“XBB.1.16 is definitely not a more pathogenic variant than other Omicron’s progenies. This variant is still evolving, adding few more mutations. But not all new mutations are beneficial to the virus,” reads another tweet of the expert.

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