QCOSTARICA – The Instituto Costarricense de Investigación y Enseñanza en Nutrición y Salud (INCIENSA) – Costa Rican Institute for Research and Teaching in Nutrition and Health – confirmed the first three cases of the Covid-19 XBB.1.5 variant known as “Kraken”.
These are three Costa Ricans (two men and a woman), residents of the Central Valley, who presented symptoms between December 12 and 21.
In the presence of this variant, Juan José Romero, an epidemiologist at the Universidad Nacional (UNA) – National University, indicated that people who recently visited the United States should undergo a Covid-19 detection test.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has deemed XBB.1.5, also known as the Kraken, the most transmissible version of the Omicron variant to date and announced that countries should consider recommending masks for risky situations, like flights.
The WHO said 5,288 XBB.1.5 sequences have been reported between Oct 22 and Jan 11 from 38 countries. Just over 82% are from the United States, with the United Kingdom (8.1%) and Denmark (2.2%) among other countries reporting the most sequences.
Some experts are worried it Kraken may be able to dodge immunity from past infections and possibly vaccines.
