Kraken is the latest variant of COVID-19, but expect more mutations

Kraken, a subvariant of Omicron, is the newest form of COVID-19. It is sweeping through the United States and, inevitably, toward B.C.

But while XBB. 1.5, to give it its scientific name, is new, COVID variants aren’t and they will be with us for some time to come, experts say.

Kraken was responsible for 40 per cent of the confirmed COVID cases in the U.S. last week, and 75 per cent of confirmed cases in the American Northeast.

“Kraken is a variant and we will be exposed more and more to these variants because they find a way to escape the immune system,” said Horacio Bach, an adjunct professor of infectious diseases at UBC and researcher of vaccines.

Antibodies are produced in our bodies according to a defined protein or piece of a molecule that produces an immune response, he said.