Masks recommended on long flights amid new COVID variant spread: WHO – National | 24CA News

Countries ought to think about recommending passengers put on masks on long-haul flights to counter the most recent Omicron subvariant of COVID-19 given its speedy unfold within the United States, World Health Organization (WHO) officers stated on Tuesday.

In Europe, the XBB.1.5 subvariant is being detected in small however rising numbers, WHO/Europe officers stated at a press briefing.

Passengers needs to be suggested to put on masks in high-risk settings reminiscent of long-haul flights, stated the WHO’s senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood, including: “this should be a recommendation issued to passengers arriving from anywhere where there is widespread COVID-19 transmission.”

XBB.1.5 – essentially the most transmissible Omicron subvariant that has been detected up to now – accounted for 27.6% of COVID-19 instances within the United States for the week ending Jan. 7, U.S. well being officers have stated.

It stays unclear if XBB.1.5 will trigger its personal wave of infections all over the world. Current vaccines proceed to guard towards extreme signs, hospitalization and loss of life, specialists say.

“Countries need to look at the evidence base for pre-departure testing,” Smallwood added, saying it was essential to not focus completely on one explicit geographic space.

If motion is taken into account, she stated, “our opinion is that travel measures should be implemented in a non-discriminatory manner.”

That didn’t imply the company beneficial testing for passengers coming from the United States at this stage, she added.

2:11
New COVID subvariant XBB.1.5 ‘most transmissible’ detected but: WHO

Measures that may be taken embrace genomic surveillance, and focusing on passengers arriving from different nations so long as it doesn’t divert assets away from home surveillance techniques. Others embrace wastewater monitoring techniques round factors of entry, reminiscent of airports.

XBB.1.5 is yet one more descendant of Omicron, essentially the most contagious – and now globally dominant – variant of the virus that causes COVID-19. It is an offshoot of XBB, first detected in October, which is itself a recombinant of two different Omicron subvariants.

Concerns about XBB.1.5 fueling a recent spate of instances within the United States and past are on the rise concurrently a surge of COVID instances in China, after the nation pivoted away from its signature “zero COVID” coverage final month.

According to information reported by the WHO earlier this month, an evaluation by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a predominance of Omicron sublineages BA.5.2 and BF.7 amongst regionally acquired infections.

Many scientists – together with from the WHO – imagine China is probably going under-reporting the true extent of its outbreak.

More than a dozen nations – together with the United States – are demanding COVID assessments from vacationers from China.

(Reporting by Natalie Grover in London and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Geneva; Editing by William Maclean and Mark Potter)