In the United States, a new subspecies of coronavirus XBB.1.5 was identified

in the New England region in the northeast of the United States, which includes the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, subspecies XBB.1.5 "omicron" has reached about three quarters of cases,passes the edition

A new variant of the XBB.1.5 omicron strain of CORONAVIRUS is spreading rapidly in parts of the United States, especially in the northeast of the country, after the winter holidays. it is reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The XBB.1.5 subspecies accounted for 40.5% of U.S. coronavirus cases in the week ending December 31, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Two weeks earlier, the figure was about 10%.

In the New England region (includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont) in the northeastern United States, XBB.1.5 has reached about three-quarters of the cases, and the subspecies has spread widely within New York State.

“We are concerned about how contagious it is,” said epidemiologist, World HEALTH Organization (WHO) expert Maria van Kerkhove.

US authorities announced an increase in the incidence of a new subspecies of "omicron" Society

On December 24 last year, the CDC reported that the proportion of those infected with the XBB variant of the omicron strain of coronavirus rose to 18% in a week.

According to the agency, a new subspecies of the omicron strain then accounted for more than 50% of covid-19 cases in the northeast of the country. Yet it accounted for less than 10% of infections in many other parts of the US.

Read on RBC Pro Why large investors continue to buy cheaper cryptocurrencies 8 billion problems:Is the planet in danger of extinction or overpopulation For which countries did 2022 turn out to be not so terrible - The Economist How the HEAD of Louis Vuitton became the richest man in the world - The Economist

Kamil Khafizov, head of the laboratory for genomic research at the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor, told TASS earlier that the XBB variants (XBB and XBB.1) are recombinants of the omicron sublines BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 ("centaur").

He warned that the risk of re-infection with the XBB variant of the omicron strain may be higher compared to other circulating sub-strains of the strain.