RIYADH — Minister of Health Fahd Al-Jalajel announced on Tuesday that there have not yet been any indications of virulence and severity of the Omicron XBB subvariant cases in the Kingdom. "The ministry is monitoring and following up on all developments related to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), including the Omicron XBB sub-variant in the Kingdom. Praise be to God, there have been no severe sub-mutant cases," he said while stressing the importance of completing vaccines as they are effective against mutated strains of the virus. Al-Jalajel stressed the need to follow the advice and instructions of the Ministry of Health and the Public Health Authority (Weqaya) and to comply with preventive measures. It is noteworthy that Weqaya revealed on Monday that it had detected the XBB subvariant of Omicron in a limited number of positive samples. Weqaya's announcement came while confirming its continued monitoring of virus mutants that cause COVID-19, as it noted that the sub-variant of Omicron BA5 and BA2 predominate in more than 75 percent of the positive samples. Monitoring operations for respiratory diseases are carried out continuously by the authority, Weqaya said while noting that monitoring operations include identifying influenza strains in confirmed cases of infection. Weqaya indicated that the influenza B virus represents the currently common type in Saudi Arabia, followed by influenza A virus subtypes H1N1 and H3N2. The authority confirmed that cases of respiratory diseases and seasonal influenza, in addition to COVID-19, get active due to the entry of the winter season, adding that the severity of symptoms for people varies from one person to another based on their immunity.
