Omicron XBB.1.5 variant: Top COVID symptoms seen in infections caused by the ‘most transmissible variant’ | The Times of India

Though the symptoms associated with the disease have remained the same as previous variants, does that mean the risk of severity remains the same? Can we be assured that there won’t be more risk associated with COVID infection with the XBB.1.5 variant?

XBB.1.5 more likely to infect the vaccinated or those who have had COVID: Report

An internal risk assessment published by the WHO had indicated that XBB.1.5 did not carry any mutation known to be associated with a potential change in severity. However, severity assessments are ongoing, the report added.

“For the record, I don’t think XBB.1.5 or any other single Omicron variant is likely to cause a massive wave like the first Omicron BA.1) did,” T. Ryan Gregory, Professor of evolutionary biology of the University of Guelph in Canada has tweeted. “I think things are different now for several reasons. One, obviously, is the level of immunity against severe acute illness. Yes, variants evolve immune escape, but boosters and (less desirable by a long shot) infection continue to confer good but partial and waning protection. Another reason is that we no longer have single variants rising sharply, replacing the previous lone variant, and in turn being replaced by a single variant that causes a distinct wave. Instead, we have a cloud of immune-escaping variants at variable frequencies,” he has explained in a series of tweets.