There have been no confirmed cases of the XE strain in India. On Wednesday, the Mumbai municipal authorities announced the first occurrence of the XE type, but the national government disputed with the findings.
The case will have to be re-examined, according to INSACOG, the center’s research body. It is required to affirm the case and identify whether the sample is infected with the “recombinant” form or has been exposed to the viral mutations multiple times. According to INSACOG sources, “we will redo genome sequencing to check for other exposures.”
The sample will be transferred to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) for further testing in order to validate the novel variation.
Despite the fact that this strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been detected in various nations since it was discovered in the United Kingdom in January of this year,
What is the COVID-19 XE Variant?
The XE variation is a “recombinant,” which implies that it is a blend of the BA.1 and BA.2 kinds of Omicron. Recombination is a rather typical mutational process in coronaviruses.
This novel strain is said to be more transmissible than any existing COVID strain. According to the World Health Organization, this recombinant form is 10% more transmissible than BA.2.
BA.1 and BA.2 are two main sub-variants of the Omicron variant, which accounts for more than 90% of infections identified in 2022. During the third wave in India, the BA.2 was the most prominent. BA.3 is another less common sub-variant.
BA.2 was discovered to be somewhat more transmissible than BA.1. According to the WHO, it has spread over the world, accounting for nearly 94% of all Omicron infections in the previous month.
The World Health Organization has issued warnings about a recombinant virus of the Omicron Delta. This was to be expected, given how far Omicron and Delta had travelled.
The WHO stated in a recent report, “Given the present high degree of transmission worldwide, it is expected that other variations, including recombinants, will continue to arise.”
China is being gripped by the new variety, with Shanghai recording over 17,000 cases in a single day. Following the increase in illnesses, the city remains under lockdown. The Chinese government is doing further widespread testing.
