BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday (April 6) announced that a 50-year-old woman with a history of travel to South Africa might have been infected with the newly discovered ‘XE’ variant of Coronavirus.
XE, the sub-variant of Omicron, which caused the third wave of Covid-19 this winter, has not been found in India until now. The announcement of his discovery triggered concerns about the possibility of a wave of fresh infection in India, where the Covid-19 case was in a continuous decline, and is now at the lowest level in more than two years.
But soon, however, the sources of the Union Ministry of Health in New Delhi clarified that the identification of XE variants in certain patients had not been confirmed. In fact, the preliminary analysis has suggested that the virus detected in patients not XE variants.
Confirm one way or another is expected in one or two days.
What is the XE variant of coronavirus?
Omicron variant, which is responsible for more than 90 percent of the infection detected this year, has two leading sub-variants, called BA.1 and BA.2. There are sub-variants of BA.3 too, but it’s less common.
During the initial phase, the BA.1 sub-variant was the most widespread. But in India, it is the most dominant BA.2 during the third wave.
BA.2 found a little more contagious than BA.1, even though it’s no more dangerous. In recent months, varieties of BA.2 have become the most extensive throughout the world, contributing nearly 94 percent of all omicron infections in the past month, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). BA.1 varieties incident decreases sharply.
XE variant is what is called ‘recombinant’. This means containing mutations found in BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron varieties. It was first discovered in England in January, and so far more than 600 XE samples have been found in various countries.
Recombinant variant is unusual. Variants containing the characteristics of mutations two or more variants known to occur at any time. In fact, variants containing mutations of Delta and Omicron characteristics have also been identified.
The random process of genetic mutations on viruses and other organisms continue to occur continuously. But only a small portion of this mutation significantly changes the ability of the virus to infect, or cause severe illness.
“Given the current high level of transmission throughout the world, the possibility of a further variant, including recombinant, will continue to emerge. Recombination is common among Coronavirus and is considered the expected mutation event,” WHO said in recent updates.
