The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday (Nov 4) estimated that Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 accounted for about 35 per cent of COVID-19 cases in the country in the week ending Nov 5 compared with 23.2 per cent in the previous week.
The subvariants made up nearly 9 per cent of total cases in the week of Oct 15 and have been driving a surge in cases since then.
The two variants are descendants of Omicron’s BA.5 subvariant and have been spreading rapidly in Europe. The European health authority has said they were likely to become the dominant variants shortly and drive up cases in the next few weeks and months.
There is no evidence yet that BQ.1 is linked with increased severity compared to the circulating Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said, but warned it may evade some immune protection, citing laboratory studies in Asia.
New variants are monitored closely by regulators and vaccine manufacturers in case they start to evade protection offered by current shots.
The US Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that Eli Lilly’s experimental COVID drug, bebtelovimab, was not expected to neutralize these Omicron subvariants.
BQ.1.1 made up nearly 19 per cent of circulating variants and BQ.1 was estimated to make up 16.5 per cent of circulating cases in the week of Nov. 5, the U.S. CDC said on Friday.
The BA.5 subvariant, which drove up cases earlier this year, is estimated to make up about 39 per cent of cases, compared with nearly 51 per cent in the week ended Oct 29.
Coronavirus cases saw a small uptick for the week ended Nov 2, data from CDC showed. This comes after a gradual decline in reported cases from July highs.
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