Indonesia detects first local transmission of subvariant XBB coronavirus, which is more contagious

Indonesia has detected the first case of local transmission of the subvariant of the covid-19 XBB, also present in countries in the region such as Singapore, where it is the protagonist of most of the new and growing infections in the Asian city-state.

The first confirmed case in Indonesia of the XBB subvariantwhich is a combination of two different strains of Ómicronis a 29-year-old woman who lives in Surabayain the eastern part of the island of Java, and had recently traveled to the island of Lombok, confirmed Mohamad Syaril, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health on Saturday.

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Syaril echoed the high transmissibility that this subvariant has shown so far in Singapore, where there has been a spike in hospitalizations for covid-19 due to XBB in recent weeks, although he recalled that his symptoms are usually moderate and his mortality rate is not higher than that of Omicron.

The irruption of XBB in Singapore, which relaxed its anticovid measures in recent months, has prompted authorities to warn against “abandoning all precautions”, after nearly 60,000 infections were recorded last week, compared to 41,000 the previous week.

While the Singaporean government is optimistic that hospitals can cope with the rise in cases, they have asked citizens to refrain from going to hospitals if they do not have serious symptoms.

On October 19, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to maintain the pandemic of covid as an international health emergency in view of the uncertainties that persist, in particular regarding the evolution of the virus, which could evade immunity.

Although it is obvious that the global situation has improved since the pandemic began, the virus continues to change and uncertainty and many risks remain, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

The XBB subvariant has been identified in at least 26 countriesaccording to the WHO, including Asian nations such as Singapore and Indonesia.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.