Two new mutant Covid strains emerge in UK with more than 700 confirmed cases

Two new mutant strains of coronavirus have emerged in the UK, health officials have warned.

More than 700 cases of the BQ.1 variant have been logged across the country.

Meanwhile, a further 18 cases of the so-called “nightmare variant” XBB have also been recorded.

XBB spreads quickly and appears to evade people’s vaccine protection.

However one expert questioned whether it was a “nightmare variant” and said it appears to be “no different from the other new strains”.

It is believed the variant may be behind the recent spike in Covid cases in Singapore.

Neither of the Omicron strains BQ.1 or XBB have been listed as variants of concern by the UK Health Security Agency.

Dr Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infection at the UKHSA said: “It is not unexpected to see new variants of SARS-CoV-2 emerge.

“Neither BQ.1 nor XBB have been designated as Variants of Concern and UKHSA is monitoring the situation closely, as always.

“Vaccination remains our best defence against future COVID-19 waves, so it is still as important as ever that people come take up all the doses for which they are eligible as soon as possible.”

Infectious disease expert John Swartzberg previously told the San Francisco Chronicle: “We are seeing a slew of new variants that are using a similar approach to survive — they are finding ways to evade the way we get immunity from vaccines and previous infection with changes on the spike protein.

“XBB is no different from the others.”

XBB was first found in India in August and has since been found in Bangladesh, Japan, Singapore and at least 13 more countries – including Australia and Denmark.

It has also been found in Hong Kong. Singapore Ministry of Health said XBB went from being responsible for 22 per cent of cases to being responsible for 54 per cent of cases in one week. Almost 80 per cent of people in Singapore are fully vaccinated.

Singapore’s health ministry said there was no evidence that XBB causes more severe illness, although it appears resistant to treatments.

Singapore saw the number of new Covid cases double from 4,719 on 10 October to 11,732 on October 11, according to Johns Hopkins’s Coronavirus Resource Center.

Singapore health minister Ong Ye Kung said the country is likely to see 15,000 daily cases on average by mid-November.

XBB is a mutation on Omicron BA.2. 23 cases of XBB have been detected in the USA.

Natalie Thornburg, CDC lead respiratory virus immunology specialist said: “XBB is a chimera. I think there have been a couple of sequences identified in the United States. But it’s way, way, way, way below that 1% threshold. I mean, it’s really like a handful of sequences.”