Germany’s health minister has expressed concern over a new COVID-19 subvariant linked to rising hospitalizations in the northeastern United States, adding that Berlin was watching the situation closely.
As much of the world watches rising COVID cases in China, infectious disease experts are also concerned about the highly contagious Omicron XBB.1.5, which made up more than 40% of US cases, official data showed last week.
Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote on Twitter late on Wednesday: “Hopefully we get over the cold before this variant can spread among us.”
“We are monitoring whether, and to what extent, XBB.1.5 occurs in Germany.”
Seven of the 10 US states with rising infections and hospitalizations are in the Northeast, consistent with high XBB cases, said Dr. Michael Osterholm told Reuters in a recent interview.