So far 637 cases of XE infection have been reported
Just when we all were heaving a sigh of relief over the small number of COVID cases, a new variant has come to fore. As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), the new variant of coronavirus XE has been detected and what has worsened the situation is the fact that this variant has far more transmissibility rate than Omicron variant, which was till now considered notoriously transmissible than its ancestors. What is even more alarming is that the Omicron variant caused the third wave of COVID worldwide within no time. Though hospitalization cases were less during the Omicron led COVID wave, the rate at which the variant took over the Delta strain was surprising.
COVID XE variant is the recently detected variant and here are 5 facts about it gathered from global health experts.
XE is a recombinant of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2
WHO has long before warned us against the emergence of recombinants. The Deltacron was the first known recombinant and in due course a number of recombinants of the coronavirus like Flurona have been detected.
The XE variant is said to be a recombinant of Omicron BA1 and BA2.
Recombination among viral strains is not a new thing. A recombinant variant occurs when an individual gets infected with more than one variant which recombines among themselves by sharing genetic material.
Are recombinants dangerous? "As with any other coronavirus (COVID-19) variant, the vast majority do not confer any advantage to the virus and die out relatively quickly," says Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Advisor, UK Health Security Agency.
XE is a potential variant of concern
The WHO in its new report highlighted their initial findings of this potentially new variant of concern.
"A total 637 cases of XE – a recombinant of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 – have been confirmed in the UK so far. The earliest of these has a specimen date of 19 January 2022," says an October 2021 report of the UK Health Security Agency; this report was updated on March 25.
On the aggressiveness of the variant, Hopkins says: "This particular recombinant, XE, has shown a variable growth rate and we cannot yet confirm whether it has a true growth advantage. So far there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions about transmissibility, severity or vaccine effectiveness."
WHO assigns a variant of concern to those strains of the coronavirus which have a change in the genetic makeup which is detrimental to mankind and have a high growth rate.
XE is highly transmissible
The XE variant is said to be highly transmissible. As per reports, it is 10 times more transmissible than the Omicron variant. Until now, the Omicron variant had the highest transmission rate than all the previous strains that existed before it. The rate of transmission of the Omicron was so high that within no time it swept the world with a complete wave of COVID cases.
Details on XE’s severity is awaited
As per the WHO, more details are awaited on whether there is any significant difference in the transmission and severity between the previous strains of Omicron and the recombinant one.
The Omicron variant which led the third wave of COVID, has currently crippled normal life in China. In March, China recorded 104,000 COVID infections with the majority of these in Shanghai.
So far, 637 XE cases have been reported
As per the latest report from the UK Health Security Agency, since the first time XE cases were detected in the UK, so far a total of 637 cases have been reported.
Less cases were also seen in other recombinants found by the agency. For example, XD which is a recombinant of Delta has been found in 49 cases in France mostly, while XF another recombinant of and Omicron BA.1 has been found in 38 cases in the UK; "though none have been seen since mid February. There is currently no evidence of community transmission within the UK," says an official report.
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