"Be careful, the risk of suffering from COVID-19 with this XBB variant is higher than with people, who have had COVID-19 from the previous variants. This virus attacks people, who never had COVID-19 before," Head of the PB IDI COVID-19 Task Force Erlina Burhan stated during a media briefing related to the update of COVID-19 cases in Jakarta on Thursday.
Burhan remarked that XBB was first discovered in India in August 2022 and XBC in the United Kingdom was a hereditary variant of the Delta mutation and Omicron BA.2 and BA.2.75 effects of the virus circulation in the community that cannot be contained.
"For example, Omicron struck in November 2021. In some countries, the circulation cannot be reduced, so the new mutation showed, known as XBB and XBC," Burhan stated.
Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that since October 17, 2022, XBB has been reported in 26 countries, such as Australia, Bangladesh, Denmark, India, Japan, and the United States.
According to observations from countries that already have XBB, its transmission is considered as being the same as other existing variants. In Singapore, XBB is the predominant subvariant, with cases reaching up to 54 percent in the second week of October 2022, while in the previous week, it was only 22 percent.
The country that reported the existence of XBC is the United Kingdom. In addition, in the Philippines, there were 193 cases of the XBC subvariant.
"The transmission is so fast. This variant is spreading in Indonesia's neighboring country, the Philippines. We know when XBB spread in Singapore in March 2022 and many Indonesians traveled to Singapore. In early October, XBB cases were found in Indonesia," she remarked.
Until now, the symptoms of XBB and XBC are similar to the symptoms of COVID-19 in general, such as fever, cough, weakness, shortness of breath, headache, sore throat, runny nose, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
"Although there is no official scientific evidence report, given that XBC is a combination of the Delta variant, symptoms of anosmia and ageusia, which are typical symptoms of the delta variant, may occur," she added.
She noted that efforts to prevent mutations of the coronavirus can only be made by preventing transmission to humans.
"This effort can be undertaken by expediting access to booster vaccination and complying with health protocols by wearing masks, washing hands, and maintaining distance," she emphasized.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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