According to Politico citing a WHO representative, the Omicron XBB.1.5 strain of the coronavirus has become dominant in the US in a matter of weeks and may cause a new wave of disease.

“We are concerned about its growth advantage, in particular in some countries in Europe and the Northeast part of the United States, where XBB.1.5 has rapidly replaced other circulating sub-variants,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead.

The Omicron XBB.1.5 strain has already been detected in 29 countries of the world, but it may circulate in a much larger number of countries. However, health officials don’t yet know if that means more people will go to the hospital or die. Immunity created by vaccination and previous infections with COVID-19 should at least partially work.

Meanwhile, as reported by Ukrinform, a number of European Union countries are returning the requirement of mandatory testing for COVID-19, so far only for travelers from China in view of the new outbreak of infection in the country.

After the end of the policy of “zero covid” and a huge wave of infection, China once again topped the list of risk areas related to the coronavirus. Mandatory testing for travelers from China is returning to Austria, Sweden, Belgium and Germany. Italy and France require a test from those arriving from China. It is expected that Greece will join this in the near future.

China has stopped publishing real data on COVID-19, saying only 5,000 cases per day, but according to Western experts, it is about 3 million infections per day. According to unofficial data, about 70% of residents in Shanghai are infected. The number of deaths related to the new outbreak of COVID-19 is also unknown because the counting method used by China does not meet WHO standards. But, for example, Bloomberg writes that China’s funeral system is paralyzed and crematoria are full.

Take care of yourselves. Covid together with war is a bad combination.