The “highly infectious” XBB.1.5 Covid subvariant will drive the next wave of the virus in the UK and its rapid spread in other countries should be a “wake-up call”, experts have warned.
Professor Christina Pagel, a member of Independent Sage, a group of scientists working together to give advice to the government, told The Independent that the rapidly spreading variant was both immunosuppressive and highly transmissible – a combination that means it is prime to become dominant in the next wave this winter.
However, “there are no signs it’s [XBB.1.5] more virulent or that it causes more severe illness but it’s the most immunoevasive one so far and its also very transmissible,” Prof Pagel said.
