COVID Alert: New Mutant ‘XE’ Could Be Most Transmissible Yet, Fears WHO

New York: Even as India is breathing easy currently on the COVID-19 front, after having ridden a third wave driven by Omicron variant, another mutant of the novel coronavirus – XE — has surfaced.

More worryingly, the World Health Organisation says XE appears to be 10% more transmissible than the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron – which was considered the most contagious strain of the virus till now.

Right now, the XE variant – which is a hybrid of two Omicron versions BA.1 and BA.2 — accounts for a small fraction of COVID cases across the world. It’s the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant of Omicron which is accounting for a majority of fresh COVID cases in different countries, including the US.

WHO said in a recent report that the XE recombinant (BA.1-BA.2) was first detected in the UK on January 19. “Less than 600 sequences have been reported and confirmed since then,” the UN health body stated.

These are early days, but estimates indicate a “community growth rate advantage of 10 per cent as compared to BA.2.” However, this finding requires further confirmation,” added WHO.

WHO will continue to categorize the XE mutant as an Omicron variant unless significant differences in severity and transmission are noted.

Meanwhile, a study by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has found that apart from XE, two new recombinant strains are currently circulating – XD and XF.

XD is the hybrid of Delta x BA.1 sub-variant of Omicron, and while XF is another hybrid of Delta x BA.1 lineage of Omicron.