Last week, the epidemiological data released by INSACOG showed that XBB was the most dominant subvariant in India. The data showed that XBB, a hybrid of Omicron BA.2.75 and BJ.1 sub-variants, accounted for 48% of the cases. The data also showed that the previously Omicron sublineage BA.2.75 accounted for 41% of isolates in India.

INSACOG data on the lineage frequency in India showed the share of XBB was around 2.9% among other SARS-CoV-2 lineages in the country during the 36th epidemiological week, which rose by 48.2% in the 41st epidemiological week.

Dr. Vinod Scaria, a scientist at Delhi-based CSIR-IGIB, tweeted that at present, XBB now accounts for 48% of all isolates in epi week according to the INSACOG dashboard. Although no abnormal spike in infections or clinical outcomes has been noted yet, asymptomatic infection and the rate of transmission cannot be discounted given the background immunity in the population.