‘Kraken’ COVID variant in California, but not the dominant strain. What is spreading now?

Hanh Truong
·2 min read

There are more than five COVID-19 variants currently circulating in California, according to the state health department’s weekly update, including XBB.1.5, the new, highly contagious form of omicron — also known as the “Kraken” subvariant.

As of Wednesday, according to the department, BQ.1.1 make up 38.0% of reported omicron cases in January and BQ.1 makes up 28.6%.

BA.5, which was the most dominant variant last summer and considered the “worst” subvariant, accounts for 9.6% and BA.2.75 at 7.1%. XBB.1.5 makes up 7% of cases and BF.7 is at 2.1%.

This report is based on more than 800,000 samples tested. Since there are delays in reporting, the department estimates the variants in high proportion in the state will be BQ.1.1 at around 41.6%, BQ.1 at 26.7% and XBB.1.5 at 22.4%.

How dangerous are the variants?

While these variants aren’t currently considered variants of concern by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state health department, they are becoming more transmissible.

The variant BF.7, known for being “extremely adept at evading immunity,” according to an Associated Press report, is at the helm of the current surge in China. XBB.1.5 is known to “(attach) more tightly than its competitors to a receptor that allows viruses to enter a cell,” a disease expert at Johns Hopkins University told AP.

XBB.1.5, or the Kraken variant, is made from two BA.2 omicron variants, according to UC Davis Health. It spreads easily and is highly infectious, and was named the most contagious strain of any coronavirus variant by the World Health Organization.

Variants of the coronavirus are expected, according to the CDC, due to mutations.

“Some variations allow the virus to spread more easily or make it resistant to treatments or vaccines,” the agency stated on its website. “As the virus spreads, it may change and may become harder to stop.”

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