The World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday that a new COVID-19 strain that is dominant in China appears to be driving up cases in parts of the world and is currently spreading in Southeast Asia, the western Pacific regions, and the Mediterranean.
The new variant, called NB.1.8.1, has led to a resurgence of the virus in China in recent weeks, officials have said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told The Epoch Times earlier this week that the variant has been detected in the United States, although about 20 sequences have been found so far.
The new variant, increasing globally, had by mid-May reached nearly 11 percent of sequenced samples reported. The WHO last week designated it a “variant under monitoring” and considers the public health risk low at the global level, with current vaccines expected to remain effective.
In its Wednesday update, the WHO said some Western Pacific countries—including China—have reported increases in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, but there’s nothing so far to suggest that the disease associated with the new variant is more severe compared to other variants.
“The recent increases have been observed in four countries and areas to date: Cambodia, China, Hong Kong ... and Singapore,” the WHO said in its update.
The variant called LP.8.1 is currently the dominant version worldwide, the WHO added. But both LP.8.1. and NB.1.8.1 have not shown signs they would cause an “increased public health risk” when “compared to other circulating variants,” the UN health body said.
“To permit robust COVID-19 risk assessment and management, WHO reiterates its recommendations to member states to continue to monitor and report SARS-CoV-2 activity and burden, public health and healthcare system impacts of COVID-19, strengthen genomic sequencing capacity and reporting, in particular information on SARS-CoV-2 variants, promptly and transparently to support global public health efforts,” the organization said, referring to the virus that causes COVID-19.
Airport screening in the United States has detected the new variant in travelers arriving from those regions to destinations in California, Washington state, Virginia, and New York, officials said.
A CDC spokesperson told The Epoch Times on Sunday evening that while NB.1.8.1 has been detected in the United States, there are “fewer than 20 sequences in the U.S. baseline surveillance data to date.”
“It has not met the threshold for inclusion in the COVID Data Tracker dashboard. We monitor all SARS-CoV-2 sequences, and if it increases in proportion, it will appear on the Data Tracker dashboard,” the spokesperson added.
The NB.1.8.1 strain is a derivative of the XDV COVID-19 lineage, and sub-lineages have been circulating for months around the world, including in China.
Statistics published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention last week indicated that NB.1.8.1 is the dominant strain in China. One new symptom includes a sharp, burning sore throat, doctors told media outlets.
Last week, the WHO also said that “while there are reported increases in cases and hospitalizations” in its member countries, “there are no reports to suggest that the associated disease severity is higher as compared to other circulating variants.”
It comes as the United States’ official stance on COVID-19 vaccination was changed, according to an announcement from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy this week. He said that COVID-19 shots are no longer recommended for pregnant women and healthy children.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the WHO, citing what his administration said was the UN health body’s lack of transparency regarding COVID-19. The White House also changed its COVID-19 page last month to say that the virus likely emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, in 2019.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.