The first case of Omicron’s ‘XE’ sub-variant came to light in the country on Wednesday amidst the relief seen for the last several weeks in Corona cases. A patient of this new variant was found in the city on Wednesday, while a patient infected with the Kappa variant was also identified. After this the health department is on alert.
According to the report, cases of both these highly infectious variants were reported during genome sequencing of 376 samples. The condition of both the patients infected with the new strain has not been found to be critical. Of the people from whom the samples were tested, 230 are residents of Mumbai. Omicron variants were found in 228 out of 230 samples. This was the 11th batch of testing in the Genome Sequencing Lab.
Citizen of South Africa is infected
The Health Department of Maharashtra said, a 50-year-old woman found infected with the XE variant is a citizen of South Africa. She reached India on 10 February. She was found negative during the test on arrival in India. But during routine tests on February 27, the infection was confirmed in him. At the same time, it is also reported that she is a costume designer in Bollywood and was part of a shooting crew that arrived in India.
10 times more infectious than BA.2
According to the WHO, the Xe variant appears to be about ten percent more contagious than the ba.2 sub-variant of Omicron. This can be a matter of concern because till now the BA.2 sub-variant was considered to be the most infectious strain of corona.
XE is a hybrid of BA.1 and BA.2
The new mutant variant Xe is a hybrid of two variants ba.1 and ba.2 of Omicron. However, worldwide XE is responsible for only a small number of corona cases. At the same time, at present, BA.2 itself is spreading in the largest number of different countries around the world.
first found in uk
The world’s first case of XE was reported in Britain on 19 January. There have been less than 600 cases of XE in the UK since then. WHO said, not much research has been done about XE yet. It will continue to be classified as a variant of Omicron until its potential risks are determined by comparison with other variants.
XD and XF too
Cases of two new other variants of corona, XD and XF, are also being reported worldwide. As of now, cases have not come to the fore in large numbers. In such a situation, research on them is at an early stage.