According to the estimates from U.S. health regulators on Friday, BQ.1 and its closely related variant BQ.1.1 accounted for 16.6% of coronavirus variants in the nation, nearly doubling from the previous week. 

At the same time, Europe anticipates that it will overtake other variants in a month. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control stated that the mutations are predicted to increase cases in the European region over the next few weeks.

The two variations are offspring of Omicrons BA.5 subvariant, the predominant coronavirus in the U.S. Recently, regulators in the U.S. and Europe approved vaccination boosters targeting it.

European officials said there is currently no proof that BQ.1 is more severe than the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron forms in circulation, but they cautioned that it might circumvent some immune defences based on laboratory tests in Asia.

Recent statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a decrease in the number of weekly cases in the U.S. Over the last six weeks, the amount of coronavirus detected in wastewater samples examined by Biobot Analytics has almost remained constant across the United States. Before the CDC statistics are available, wastewater tests frequently identify potential COVID-19 surges.

This week, the World Health Organization reported that BQ.1.1 is circulating in at least 29 nations, while according to the reports from U.S. CDC on Friday, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 constituted 9.4% of circulating variations last week.

(Source: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/diagnostics/cases-of-bq-1/bq-1-1-variants-double-in-u-s-europe-warns-of-rise/95021979)