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New Omicron variant XBB.1.5, dubbed “Kraken,” doesn’t differ enough from other Omicron strains to warrant its own Greek letter, WHO officials said Wednesday.
While Kraken, rapidly spreading in the U.S., is “incredibly transmissible” and spreads faster than other circulating variants like BQ, it still belongs in the Omicron family, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19 response at the WHO, said at a news conference.
Canadian biology professor Ryan Gregory recently nicknamed the “high flying” variant—the cause of the majority of COVID cases in the U.S. Northeast—after the aggressive mythological Scandinavian sea monster “Kraken.” He argues that new variants rising to prominence need memorable names that convey to the public the evolving nature of the Omicron threat, instead of just a string of numbers and letters. The WHO, in charge of assigning Greek letter names to significant new COVID variants, hasn’t assigned a variant a new name sinceOmicron roughly a year ago, arguing that developing variants haven’t evolved enough to do so.
The variant is expected to escape immunity from prior infection and vaccination at about the same level as XBB, from which it evolved, she said. XB and BQ COVID variants are the most immune-evasive yet—but it doesn’t appear that XBB.1.5 takes that evasiveness much, if any, further.
It’s still unknown if the illness caused by XBB.1.5 is more severe than that caused by other recent COVID strains. Data on the variant is limited and mostly comes from the U.S., which is seeing the lion’s share of detected cases, Van Kerkhove added.
So far, new Omicron strains are “behaving in the same way,” aside from doing an increasingly better job of spreading, she said, adding that the WHO expects to see more growth advantage and immune escape in variants as they evolve.
When new variants begin behaving differently, “we’re not afraid to use these Greek letters,” she said, referencing the organization’s system of assigning names like Alpha, Delta, and Omicron to notable new COVID variants.
The organization’s risk assessment on XBB.1.5 should be published “shortly,” the WHO said Wednesday.
This is a developing story and please check back for updates.
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