HCMC – A new highly transmissible Omicron subvariant known as XBB.1.5 has been detected in HCMC, the city’s health department reported this morning, April 14.

XBB.1.5, a descendent lineage of Omicron XBB, made up around 47.1% of global Covid-19 cases in March and 39.8% in February, according to the World Health Organization. It has been found in 94 countries. The department also recorded a slight increase in infections. The city has seen one new Covid-19 patient every day on average since early March, but it logged 18 new cases from April 6 to 13. In response, the HCMC’s healthcare sector has asked locals to follow anti-Covid-19 measures and receive booster doses while closely monitoring the development of the disease and gearing up medical equipment and facilities for Covid-19 treatment. In related news, Vietnam confirmed 497 new Covid-19 patients and 37 recoveries on April 13. Data from the Ministry of Health showed 639 Covid-19 infections in the first ten days of April, increasing 3.8-fold over late March. The Southeast Asian country has recorded over 11,520,000 Covid-19 patients, the 13th highest in the world, with nearly 43,200 deaths. As of April 12, around 266 million vaccine doses were administered.