Cases of Covid-19 have dramatically risen by 50 per cent over the past 10 days as the new "Kraken" variant gains momentum. 11 per cent of cases on January 16 were accounted for by XBB1.5 - a sublineage of Omicron - as it doubled its presence in Britain in the first fortnight of 2023 according to data from the GISAID.
This comes after the "Kraken" strain started spreading at concerning rates in the US. Cases of the virus in America hiked from 12 per cent to 42 in only three weeks, the Express reports. Experts believe the new variant will be more contagious when it spread more quickly, which means the strain could threaten to spark a new wave of the virus in the winter.
Previously speaking to Express.co.uk, Dr Stephen Griffin, an Associate Professor at the Leeds Institute of Medical Research, explained: “The strain is not only better at infecting per se, it is better at evading our defences when doing so. This gives it a big advantage over its predecessors (mainly BQ1.1), as we are seeing in the US and now here.
