XE Variant Of The Coronavirus:
A 50-year-old woman in Mumbai, may have been infected with the newly-discovered ‘XE’ variant of the coronavirus.
- XE is a sub-variant of Omicron, which caused the third wave of Covid-19, which had not been found in India until now.
- So far, there is no indication that it is more dangerous than other variants.
- The Omicron variant, which is responsible for over 90% of the infections detected in 2022, has two prominent sub-variants, called BA.1 and BA.2.
- The XE variant is what is called a ‘recombinant’. This means it contains the mutations found in BA.1 as well as BA.2 varieties of Omicron.
- Recombinant variants are not uncommon.
- For example, variants that contain the characteristic mutations of Delta and Omicron have also been identified.
- This was first discovered in the United Kingdom in January 2022, and so far more than 600 samples of XE have been found in different countries.
- In fact, variants that contain the characteristic mutations of Delta and Omicron have also been identified.
