Telangana reports 3 cases of ‘Kraken’ XBB15

Hyderabad: The XBB15 Covid super variant, which is behind the recent wave of Covid infections across the United States and United Kingdom, has made its way to Telangana.

The latest genomic sequencing data by Hyderabad-based genetic laboratories attached to Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortium (INSACOG) have reported 3 XBB15 positive cases in Telangana.

In the last fortnight, genetic laboratories attached to INSACOG in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Karnataka and a few other States have intensified sample collection from Covid positive patients for genetic sequencing to ascertain Covid strains that are circulating locally.

Between December and January 2, a total of six XBB14 infections have been reported in India out of which three were from Telangana, two from Maharashtra and one XBB15 infection was from Gujarat.

Geneticists from United States including the first scientist who detected XBB15 in New Work, JP Weiland have made it clear that the US variant (XBB15) is poised to ‘wipe the board’ of most other variants circulating worldwide, and will likely create significant waves in most of the countries.

The reason behind such assertions is because XBB15 has acquired several vital mutations making it the most immunity-evasive escape variant to date. It has the ability to spread much faster than any other earlier Omicron variants, leading to an increase



in hospitalisations in US cities.

In fact, within a short period of one week, the XBB15 variant now is causing over 40 per cent of the Covid infections in the US and UK. Due to its potential to quickly infect, geneticists have unofficially started calling it as ‘Kraken’, the mythical Scandinavian sea monster.

The XBB.1.5 is a sub-variant of the Omicron XBB variant, which is a recombinant of the Omicron BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 sub-variants. Due to the highly immunity evasive nature of XBB15, geneticists and scientists believe that the global spread of XBB15 super variant from the United States is inevitable.

Noted epidemiologist, Dr Eric Feigl-Ding in microblogging site Twitter said “When XBB15 shows up, all the variants basically bite the dust. The key double advantage of XBB15 is that it has much higher immunity escape and higher human cell ACE2 binding that bestows it higher cell infectivity”.

Given the experience of having to face three successive Covid waves in the past three years, the rapid spread of XBB15 has triggered a sense of déjà vu among many in Hyderabad.

While the full impact of the XBB15 super variant on the Indian population will play-out in the coming days, senior health officials have advised caution and urged people to start taking precautions at every level