All you need to know about the new variant XE, Check the symptoms

The XE variant is a recombinant of BA.1 and BA.2, the sub-lineages of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19. In addition to those, it has three other mutations which were not there in Omicron or BA.1 or BA.2.

According to reports, the new variant is 10 per cent more transmissible than the BA.2 subvariant, which is already the most contagious. As per the WHO, BA.2, which is a subvariant of the Omicron strain, is the most dominant strain of the virus, being 86 per cent of all sequenced cases attributed to it.

BA.2 was found to be slightly more transmissible than BA.1, even though it was not more dangerous. In the last couple of months, the BA.2 variety has become the most widespread across the globe, accounting for almost 94 per cent of all Omicron infections in the last one month, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Although experts have pointed out that there is no reason to panic, there are currently three hybrid or recombinant viruses have been detected  XD, XE, XF. The two different combinations of Delta and BA.1 are XD and XF. The third is XE.

The XD is the hybrid of Delta and BA.1, a sublineage of the Omicron variant and has been found mostly in France, Denmark and Belgium.

On April 6, Maharashtra detected the first case of the XE variant of SARS-CoV2. The patient is reportedly a 50-year-old female South African national who had come to India on February 10. She tested on February 27 and later was found Covid-19 positive. Her lab sample was then referred to Mumbai’s Kasturba Hospital Central laboratory for genome sequencing. “It has been found to be a new XE variant in initial sequencing. Though GISAID also confirmed it, INSACOG has decided to go for another round of genomic sequencing at the national laboratory for confirmation of the XE variant.

Symptoms of XE

The XE variant is currently being monitored as a part of the Omicron variant. Its symptoms are very similar to Omicron that includes fever, sore throat, cough, cold , scratchy throat,  gastrointensinal diseases, skin discoloration and etc.