What to Know About the New XBB.1.16 COVID-19 Variant

 Sudipta Das/NurPhoto—Getty Images HALEY WEISS APRIL 4, 2023 12:38 PM EDT The World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring a new COVID-19 subvariant called XBB.1.16, which has been circulating throughout India for a few months and is causing a new surge of cases there. On Apr. 2, a woman walks past a street mural with a coronavirus theme in Kolkata, India. On April 3, The Times of India reported that India had recorded more than 3,600 new COVID cases since the previous day. This marked India's largest single-day increase in case numbers in more than six months. In India, XBB.1.16 has supplanted different variations that are available for use," said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's Coronavirus specialized lead, during a Blemish. 29 public interview. " So keep an eye on this one."

According to WHO, one of the more than 600 Omicron subvariants that are currently in circulation is XBB.1.16. According to Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, it is similar to the XBB.1.5 variant that has dominated the United States throughout the year 2023 but is distinguished by a mutation in the spike protein that "may give it some additional growth advantages." In lab studies, this extra change "shows expanded infectivity, as well as possible expanded pathogenicity," Van Kerkhove said. " We need to keep a close eye on it because it could change in the future.