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Cases of Omicron variant XBB are mounting in China, forming a new wave expected to crest around 65 million cases a week by the end of June.XBB, the “first major highly immune-evasive” group of COVID variants, “will sweep through China,” but the wave will be “largely invisible” due to low rates of testing and reporting, Raj Rajnarayanan, assistant dean of research and associate professor at the New York Institute of Technology campus in Jonesboro, Ark., and a top COVID-variant tracker, tells Fortune.When it comes to XBB variants, “the rest of the world has seen them all.” But up until recently,...

But the coronavirus and its variants are still very much around, and still sometimes resulting in hospitalization and death. And the virus continues to mutate. Last week, the World Health Organization said that it was monitoring a variant dubbed XBB.1.16, or “Arcturus.” This is an Omicron subvariant, similar to the most transmissible COVID variant yet -- XBB.1.5,, nicknamed “Kraken.” And if that weren’t enough, a descendant of the new subvariant, XBB.1.16.1, has been detected in several states. (These are alarming outbreaks currently ongoing in the U.S.) To compile a list of all the states where the new COVID variant has...

The omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 has rapidly spread to become the dominant COVID-19 mutation in the U.S., now accounting for 40.5 percent of all cases. The XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant as of this week has pushed out the BQ.1 and the BQ.1.1 subvariants from their previous positions as the most detected coronavirus mutations, according to surveillance conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The XBB subvariant, from which XBB.1.5 descends, is a recombinant of two subvariants that descended from the BA.2 omicron subvariant. That means it carries genetic data from two versions of the coronavirus that originated from the...

Amid warnings from health officials and the White House over a new COVID-19 surge coming this winter, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed a new variant is now dominant in parts of the Northeast. The Omicron subvariant XBB accounts for about 52.6% of all cases in New England between Dec. 18 and Dec. 24, according to the CDC. XBB constitutes 18.3% of cases across the country. “It looks like it’s just going to blow the other (variants) away in a very short period,” Jeremy Luban, professor of molecular medicine, biochemistry, and molecular biotechnology at UMass Chan Medical...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed Friday it is now tracking a new COVID-19 variant of concern around the U.S. known as XBB, which has grown to make up an estimated 3.1% of new infections nationwide. The strain's prevalence has grown furthest so far in the Northeast, according to the agency's weekly estimates. More than 5% of infections in the regions spanning New Jersey through Maine are linked to XBB, in this week's "Nowcast" from the CDC.