Thread by @FLAHAULT

1/6 - “The #XBB strain is causing a small surge in cases in countries like Bangladesh and Singapore. The latter has recorded a daily average of about 5,500 cases over the past week, compared to a daily average of 2,000 cases a month ago.”
fortune.com/2022/10/11/wha…

2/6- “Hospitalizations in Singapore have increased alongside the rise in cases, yet deaths remain low, with fewer than a dozen recorded in the country over the past wk. Over 90% of Singapore’s pop has received 2 doses of a #COVID19 vaccine, 79% have received at least 1 booster.”

3/6 - “Bangladesh is also reporting a small uptick in cases, though reported numbers are smaller than Singapore’s. The country reported a daily average of about 500 cases during the week of Oct. 3, compared to an average of 300 cases a month earlier. Vaccination rate is 75.5%.”

4/6 - “A preprint study from Oct. 4, authored by researchers at Peking University and Changping Laboratory, found that #XBB had the greatest ability to evade antibody protections among newly emerging variants.”
biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

5/6 - “Experts are also concerned that monoclonal antibody treatments might be less effective against newer variants like ##XBB and BA.2.75.2. We’ve not seen this type of immune evasion before”

6/6 - “#BA5 is still the most dominant strain of #COVID19 in the U.S., making up 79.2% of #COVID19 cases recorded between Oct. 2 and Oct. 11, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Nowcast.”