Low risk from most prevalent variant of Covid-19, says WHO

RISING CASES AND HOSPITALISATIONS CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO FACTORS SUCH AS LOWER RATES OF VACCINATION RATHER THAN THE SEVERITY

- Rhythma Kaul

NEW DELHI: The World Health Organisation has assessed the global health risk from Covid-19 variant NB.1.8.1, Sars-CoV-2 virus most prevalent today, as low, despite rising cases in several countries.

The UN health body said on Friday that current evidence does not suggest the variant causes more severe illness than others in circulation.

While cases and hospitalisations are increasing in some regions, this may be attributed to factors such as lower vaccination rates rather than the variant's severity.

NB.1.8.1, first detected in a sample collected on January 22, 2025, is a descendant of the XDV.1.5.1 lineage, which itself descended from JN.1—a lineage of the Omicron variant BA.2.86.