First detected in the US in October 2022, XBB.1.5 has now spread to more than 50 countries.
The XBB.1.5 subvariant, known as 'Kraken', is the latest Omicron subvariant to dominate the headlines.
From Australia’s first major wave of transmission in the summer of 2021/22 through to late 2022, we have had a series of COVID waves, each dominated by a single Omicron subvariant: BA.1, then BA.2 and then BA.5. In late 2022, following the rise of BA.5 around the globe, we started to see a shift in the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID.
These properties have led to its monstrous social media moniker 'Kraken'. It joins other subvariants given mythical nicknames, including 'Centaurus' and 'Aeterna' . For XBB.1.5 to become established in Australia, it would have to out-compete a range of established subvariants, including two that appear to be more common here than overseas: BR.2 and XBF.
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