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Two new strains of the coronavirus have emerged in the UK, health authorities have warned. More than 700 cases of the mutant BQ.1 variant have been detected across the country with an additional 18 cases of the so-called XBB variant. Both XBB and BQ.1 are highly immunogenic and may even be immune to current vaccines, experts told The Independent. XBB and BQ.1 are descendants of the highly contagious Omicron variant, and experts have warned that a “swarm” of such sub-variants could lead to a new wave of Covid across Europe and North America by the end of November. The UK’s Health and Safety Executive said studies are continuing into the new variants and the body is assessing the situation closely. According to the Biozentrum research unit at the University of Basel, which has been studying the evolution of the virus since the start of the pandemic, there is a “collection” of sub-variants that show the ability to spread quickly. “The trends we’re seeing right now are very different from what happened in the past,” Cornelius Roemer, a computational biologist at Biozentrum, told The Independent. “Omicron was probably the first variant that was good at avoiding immunity and that’s why it made such a big splash. Now, for the first time, we’re seeing multiple lineages, multiple variants emerging in parallel that all have very similar mutations and all manage to evade immunity quite well,” he said. Last month, University of Warwick virologist Professor Lawrence Young said there were worrying sub-variants of Omicron in the early data, including indications that they can escape immunity. Vaccination remains the number one defense against Covid (Getty Images) However, he warned that the UK risked being blind to these emerging variants due to a reduction in testing facilities. “The biggest concern we’re seeing is that in the early data these variants are starting to cause a slight increase in infections. In some ways, this was to be expected, but it shows that we’re not out of the woods yet with this virus, unfortunately,” Professor Young said. He added: “We have really taken our eye off the ball with the Covid tests. We can detect variants or know what’s coming by sequencing from PCR tests and that’s nowhere near as much as it was a year ago.” Dr Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at UKHSA, said: “It is not unexpected to see new variants of SARS-CoV-2 emerging. Neither BQ.1 nor XBB have been designated as Variants of Concern and UKHSA is monitoring the situation closely, as always. “Vaccination remains our best defense against future waves of COVID-19, so it’s still as important as ever that people get all the doses they’re eligible for as soon as possible.”
