The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced on Wednesday that a newly discovered ‘XE’ variant of coronavirus was discovered in a 50-year-old woman with a travel history to South Africa.
The newly discovered XE is a sub-variant of the Omicron virus that had caused the third wave during the winter. The ‘XE’ variant had not been found in India until now. The discovery of the new variant sparked fresh concerns about the possibility of a fresh wave in India. As of now, the Covid-19 cases have constantly been declining and are the lowest in more than two years.
As soon as the case was heard, the Union Health Ministry sources in New Delhi clarified that the XE variant identification in that patient was yet to be confirmed. According to the preliminary analysis, the virus that was detected in the patient was not the XE variant, but confirmation was yet expected in a day or two.
The Omicron virus has two sub-variants known as BA.1 and BA.2 along with a BA.3 sub-variant, which is less common.
Initially, it was the BA.1 sub-variant that was the most widespread, but it was the BA.2 that was the most dominant during the third wave, in India.
The new XE variant contains mutations found in BA.1 as well as BA.2 varieties of Omicron. The variant was first discovered in the United Kingdom in January and many samples have been found in different countries.
As of now, there is no evidence that shows that the XE variant is significantly different from the other varieties of Omicron. What is found is that the XE variant could be 10 per cent more transmissible than the dominant BA.2 variant.
The detection of the XE variant does not trigger worries of a fresh wave in the country as it is not very different from the Omicron variant.