SINGAPORE: Allegations circulating on WhatsApp that the Omicron XBB subvariant of COVID-19 is “five times more toxic”, more deadly and harder to detect than the Delta variant are untrue, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Wednesday (April 19).
In a Facebook post, MOH said that both international and local data have shown that the Omicron XBB subvariant is milder than the Delta variant, and does not have a higher mortality rate.
COVID-19 tests, said MOH, are able to detect COVID-19 infections, including the XBB strains.
“Of all the various strains in the local community now, there is no clear dominant strain,” said MOH.
“There is also no evidence showing that any one of them causes more severe illness.”