1 subvariant of Omicron variant detected in Japan

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato speaks at a meeting of a panel that advises the ministry on COVID 19 in Tokyo on December 7. The BA has caught 1 subvariant of the Omicron strain of the novel coronaviruses. Health experts said that 5 subvariant was the dominant cause of COVID 19 in Japan.

The BA has detected 1, first detected in Nigeria in September. There is a spike in BQ, according to experts. Immunity gained through vaccines or infections could be less effective against BQ because of such mutations. The risk of infected patients developing serious symptoms is about the same as for BA, as 1 could spread more easily. The experts said there were 5 patients.

Members of the health ministry's expert panel on the novel coronavirus said they were carefully monitoring BQ. 1 is because it could affect how widespread COVID 19 becomes in Japan.

According to an estimate by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, BA. Since August 5 has been the dominant strain in Japan, accounting for more than 90 percent of COVID 19 cases.

The institute said the dominance of BA. The country has had seven infections as a result of 5 of them.

In early October, 5 s dominance started to wane. The institute s estimate was released on December 7, said BA. In the week starting on December 5, 5 is expected to account for 54 percent of all COVID 19 patients.

In the same week, 1 will cause 36 percent of all cases.

BA has already overtaken 1. According to the UK Health Security Agency, BQ. In the week through November 19, 1 patients accounted for 50 percent of all COVID 19 patients in Britain.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC showed that BQ. In the week ending December 3, 1 patients made up 63 percent of all COVID 19 patients in the United States.

The data shows in Britain and the United States patients infected with BQ. 1.1 derives from BQ. 1 patients.

However, both the United States and Britain have not reported that COVID- 19 patients' hospitalizations increased during the period when BQ occurred. 1 cases rose.

Takaji Wakita, the head of the Japanese institute and chair of the ministry's advisory panel, said at a Nov. 30 news conference that the spread of BQ. After the pace of increase slowed in November, 1 could be behind the surge in COVID 19 patients in Japan.

He said that 1 could be a factor in the spread of infections. It is also possible to predict that if BQ. If 1 spreads, the number of patients might not fall as easily as it did during the seventh wave. Atsuo Hamada, a professor of travel medicine at Tokyo Medical University, said: We can expect vaccines to be effective against BQ. To some extent. It could prevent serious symptoms, for example. I think it is useful to have vaccines. Another cause of concern is the small number of infections of XBB, a hybrid of two lineages of the Omicron variant detected in Japan.

XBB, which is spreading in Singapore and other countries, has immune escape abilities like BQ.