A total of 1,071 fresh cases were reported in India in a span of 24 hours, while the death toll since the covid-19 pandemic increased to 5,30,802 with three latest fatalities – one each reported in Rajasthan and Maharashtra and one reconciled in Kerala. The fresh cases were a single-day rise after 129 days till Sunday. There were also three deaths reported till March 19. According to reports from several states, experts believe that the rise in Covid cases is happening most likely due to newly detected Covid XBB 1.16 variant of the Covid virus. The XBB 1.16 variant was first identified in January this year when two samples tested positive, and in February this year, a total of 59 samples were found. So far in the current month of March, 15 more samples of the variant have been detected. What is alarming is that the number of Covid XBB 1.16 variant cases detected in India is the highest across the world. The second highest number of cases have been detected in the US. Experts believe that XBB 1.16 is a new subtype that may lead to a fresh wave of the pandemic across the world. XBB was discovered in Singapore in August. It is a hybrid of Omicron\u2019s BA.2.75 and BJ.1 sub-variants. It has now appeared in 17 countries across the globe. It is believed that the XBB variant has \u201cgrowth advantage\u201d over BA.2.75 and immune evasive property. The ministry of health & family welfare, government of India, has issued fresh advisory to prevent the new variant from spreading and spiralling out of control. To enlighten public about the new variant, the government informed that the new Covid XBB 1.16 is not life-threatening as per initial research but it is the fastest-spreading Covid subtype detected till now and can multiply at an alarming rate. However, not a single death has been reported due to Covid XBB across the globe. There is however little or no difference between the symptoms of two recent variants- Covid XBB 1.16 and XBB 1.15. The symptoms of the new variant XBB 1.16 include fever, sore throat, cold, headache, body aches, and fatigue. It also might impact the digestive system and respiratory system. Some experts believe that XBB is the most contagious variant of Covid. \u201cIt is likely the most immune-evasive and poses problems for current monoclonal antibody-based treatments and prevention strategy,\u201d pointed out Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. A recent lab study using coronavirus samples from an immunosupressed person over six months revealed that the virus evolved to become more pathogenic, suggesting that a new variant could cause worse illness than the current predominant omicron strain. The lab study indicates that the pathogen could continue to mutate and a new variant may cause more severe illness and death than the relatively mild omicron strain. However, the study is yet to be peer reviewed and is based solely on laboratory work on samples from one individual. Some researchers contend that Covid vaccines won\u2019t be able to protect people from this variant; and they will be rendered ineffective. There are also indications that XBB may lead to an increase in re-infections. These are serious alarm bells that should re-awaken people from their induced post-pandemic slumber.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A total of 1,071 fresh cases were reported in India in a span of 24 hours, while the death toll since the covid-19 pandemic increased to 5,30,802 with three latest fatalities – one each reported in Rajasthan and Maharashtra and one reconciled in Kerala. The fresh cases were a single-day rise after 129 days till […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-335565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}