Dr. Teera reveals that the WHO has issued a risk assessment report for the XBB.1.5 ommicron strain, indicating that the severity is not different from the previous strain. Emphasize that you must protect yourself to be aware of Long COVID, not being infected is the best.
01 Mar. 2023 – Assoc. Chulalongkorn University Facebook post regarding the situation of COVID on March 1, 2023 that yesterday, around the world, there were 70,428 more people, 316 more deaths, a total of 679,923,891 people, and a total of 6,799,868 deaths.
The top 5 with the highest number of infections are Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Russia and Austria. As of yesterday, in the number of new infections, countries from Europe and Asia occupied eight of the top 10 and 18 of the top 20 globally. The number of new infections per day around the world right now from Asia and Europe Together, it accounted for 94.08 percent of the world, while the number of deaths accounted for 80.37 percent.
…risk assessment results of XBB.1.5
The World Health Organization issued a risk assessment report for Omicron subspecies XBB.1.5 on February 24. As is known, XBB.1.5 is a subspecies formed by the admixture of BA.2 viruses. As of the third week of February, XBB.1.5 has been reported in 74 countries around the world.
During XBB.1, there is a genetic change that reduces the binding of the virus to the ACE2 receptor on the cell surface. But when it was mutated to XBB.1.5, it was found that the modified genotype, 486P, enhanced its ability to bind to ACE2 receptors at the target cell surface. As a result, this subspecies has an outbreak that spreads faster than before.
while avoiding that immunity It is clear from the scientific data that XBB.1.5 is as immune-resistant as XBB.1, which is considered to be one of the most immune-resistant of all Omicron substrains in existence. As a result, antibodies from older vaccines are insufficient to neutralize the virus. But current data suggests that Immunization with the new version, the bivalent vaccine, has been modified to immunize once morest Omicron BA.5, producing higher levels of antibodies than the original vaccine.
However, the antibody level following the booster injection will decrease over time. But it is believed that the body’s immune system (T-cells) will continue to work to fight the virus when infected. and can help reduce the risk of serious illness In terms of severe illness from XBB.1.5, the available data suggest that the severity is similar to that of previous strains. and the variation of the genotype of XBB.1.5 was not expected to have a significant effect on the severity of morbidity.
In summary, the WHO team expects that XBB.1.5 will continue to cause further expansion of the outbreak. due to the information regarding the performance in the aforementioned areas
… Therefore, one should conduct daily life consciously, not carelessly, protect oneself regularly, be careful of risky behaviors. Risky places to improve ventilation at home, at work, at school, where to eat and drink, properly wearing a mask can greatly reduce the risk. Both from COVID-19 and PM2.5. At present, there are still people infected, both adults and children, with mild symptoms, but please always be aware of the long-term impact of Long COVID. Infected or not re-infected is the best.
Reference : XBB.1.5 Updated Risk Assessment. 24 February 2023.
