Tweet
10 February 2023
Summary
This report has been published to share the detailed variant surveillance analyses which contribute to the variant risk assessments and designation of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. This specialist technical briefing contains early data and analysis on emerging variants and findings have a high level of uncertainty. Unless stated otherwise, this technical briefing uses a data cut- off of 6 February 2023 to allow time for analyses.
Interpreting variant data
The current testing policy needs to be considered when interpreting all variant data; the targeting of testing at specific groups is likely to delay the detection and characterisation of variants. Whilst there are substantial numbers of genomes still being generated, the demographic composition of the cases sequenced is different from total cases in the population with a greater representation of older individuals. This may affect variant characterisation.
Situational risk assessment
Growth advantage
XBB.1.5 and CH.1.1 (and associated sublineages) continue to show growth advantage in England in all models. It is likely that the growth of both CH.1.1. and XBB.1.5 are contributing to the current increase in COVID-19 incidence and that they will continue to increase overall transmission as they become more prevalent. ...
Summary
This report has been published to share the detailed variant surveillance analyses which contribute to the variant risk assessments and designation of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. This specialist technical briefing contains early data and analysis on emerging variants and findings have a high level of uncertainty. Unless stated otherwise, this technical briefing uses a data cut- off of 6 February 2023 to allow time for analyses.
Interpreting variant data
The current testing policy needs to be considered when interpreting all variant data; the targeting of testing at specific groups is likely to delay the detection and characterisation of variants. Whilst there are substantial numbers of genomes still being generated, the demographic composition of the cases sequenced is different from total cases in the population with a greater representation of older individuals. This may affect variant characterisation.
Situational risk assessment
Growth advantage
XBB.1.5 and CH.1.1 (and associated sublineages) continue to show growth advantage in England in all models. It is likely that the growth of both CH.1.1. and XBB.1.5 are contributing to the current increase in COVID-19 incidence and that they will continue to increase overall transmission as they become more prevalent. ...