Two new coronavirus variants have been discovered in the UK, according to health officials. The strains BQ.1 and XBB are being “closely monitored” but neither have been designated as “variants of concern”.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) revealed that 717 cases of the BQ.1 strain have been recorded across the country, while there are 18 samples of the XBB variant. The latter is believed to be behind a recent spike in cases in Singapore.
Dr Meera Chand, Director of Clinical and Emerging Infection at UKHSA, said: “It is not unexpected to see new variants of SARS-CoV-2 emerge. Neither BQ.1 nor XBB have been designated as variants of concern and UKHSA is monitoring the situation closely, as always.
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“Vaccination remains our best defence against future COVID-19 waves, so it is still as important as ever that people come take up all the doses for which they are eligible as soon as possible.”
It comes as the latest rise in Covid-19 infections appears to be levelling off, although virus numbers continue to increase in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Wales is the only part of the UK seeing a clear fall in infections.
More recent data shows the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is starting to fall, suggesting the current wave of the virus may have peaked. The total number of people in private households in the UK testing positive for coronavirus stood at 2.05 million in the week to October 17, broadly unchanged on 2.01 million in the previous week, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This is some way below the peak of nearly four million reached in early July, during the wave caused by the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants of the virus. The rate of increase in UK-wide infections has slowed recently, with the latest total up just 2% on the previous week.
Kara Steel, ONS senior statistician for the Covid-19 infection survey, said the new figures show a “mixed picture”.
“Though infections appear to have slowed in England and are now declining in Wales, they are increasing in both Northern Ireland and Scotland,” she said.
“Infections are highest in those aged 50 and over in England, though there has been an increase in secondary school aged children. It remains too early to say from the data whether we are seeing a turning point in the level of infections – which remain high across the countries.”
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