The fast-spreading XBB.1 lineage XBB.1.16 virus may be circulating in india following the recent surge of coronavirus cases, international and indian scientists monitoring SARS-CoV2 strains have said. The fast-spreading XBB.1 lineage XBB.1.16 virus may be circulating in india following the recent surge of coronavirus cases, international and indian scientists monitoring SARS-CoV2 strains have said. According to an international platform that monitors corona variants, the largest number of sequences of this subtype came from india (48) followed by brunei (22), the united states (15), and singapore (14). According to reports, this subtype has shown a major increase in prevalence in at least four countries, including India. Experts monitoring corona variants in india have found that XBB.1.16 is spreading rapidly in some areas.
In india, the states of maharashtra and gujarat show the highest prevalence of XBB.1.16, according to covSPECTRUM. XBB.1.16 does not descend from XBB.1.5, but both from a recombined ancestor XBB and more recently from XBB.1. XBB is currently dominant in india and the latest cases in the country could be the result of XBB.1.16 and XBB.1.5, said a top expert on genome sequencing in India. 
Most of the cases isolated from indian travelers to singapore, the USA, and brunei recently were XBB.1.16. Therefore, this sub-distinction may account for the ever-increasing number of cases in India. XBB.1.16 may have originated in India. XBB.1.16 could eventually dominate all other circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, the expert said. There are currently 48 deployed models of this sub-series in India.
39 sequenced specimens of the sublineage are from maharashtra and one from UP and eight from Gujarat. An earlier XBB.1 derivative, XBB.1.5, was dominant worldwide, but not in india, said Vipin M Vasishtha, a member of the WHO's Vaccine Safety Network, which monitors new Covid strains during pandemics. But there is some concern about XBB.1.16 globally because it has some mutations in the non-spike region of the virus, he said. Infectious disease expert Dr. Sanjay Pujari, a member of India's National Covid-19 Task Force, said more information is not yet available on the relative immune evasion properties and potential of XBB.1.16 to cause severe disease compared to other Omicron counterparts.
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