Given the fast spread of the latest Omicron subvariant of Covid-19 in the United States, countries should consider advising that travelers wear masks on long-haul flights, according to World Health Organization (WHO) officials on Tuesday. The XBB.1.5 subvariant has been detected in Europe in modest but increasing numbers, according to WHO/Europe officials at a media briefing.
Travelers should be urged to wear masks in high-risk circumstances like as long-haul flights, said the WHO’s senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood, adding: “this should be a recommendation issued to passengers arriving from anywhere where there is widespread Covid-19 transmission”.
According to health officials reported by Khaleej Times, XBB.1.5, the most transmissible Omicron subvariant discovered so far, accounted for 27.6% of Covid-19 cases in the United States during the week ending January 7. It was uncertain whether XBB.1.5 would spark its global outbreak. According to specialists, current vaccines continue to protect against severe symptoms, hospitalization, and death. “Countries need to look at the evidence base for pre-departure testing” and if action is considered, “travel measures should be implemented in a non-discriminatory manner,” Smallwood said.
That did not mean the agency recommended testing for passengers from the United States at this stage, she added. Measures that could be taken include genomic surveillance, and targeting passengers from other countries as long as it does not divert resources from domestic surveillance systems. Others include monitoring wastewater around points of entry such as airports, according to Khaleej Times. XBB.1.5 is another descendant of Omicron, the most contagious and now globally dominant variant of the virus that causes Covid-19. It is an offshoot of XBB, first detected in October, itself a recombinant of two other Omicron subvariants.
Concerns about XBB.1.5 fuelling a fresh spate of cases in the United States and beyond are on rising amid a surge of Covid cases in China, after the country pivoted away from its signature “zero Covid” policy last month. An analysis by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention found a prevalence of Omicron sublineages BA.5.2 and BF.7 among locally acquired infections, according to data provided by the WHO earlier this month. The WHO is aware that the case-definition of what counts as a Covid-19 death in China is narrow and “not necessarily the case definition that WHO has recommended countries adopt,” added Smallwood. In addition, more than a dozen countries — including the United States — are demanding Covid tests from travellers from China.
