Coronavirus variant: 5 facts about new variant XE from global health experts | The Times of India

The WHO in its new report highlighted their initial findings of this potentially new variant of concern.

“A total 637 cases of XE – a recombinant of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 – have been confirmed in the UK so far. The earliest of these has a specimen date of 19 January 2022,” says an October 2021 report of the UK Health Security Agency; this report was updated on March 25.

On the aggressiveness of the variant, Hopkins says: “This particular recombinant, XE, has shown a variable growth rate and we cannot yet confirm whether it has a true growth advantage. So far there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions about transmissibility, severity or vaccine effectiveness.”

WHO assigns a variant of concern to those strains of the coronavirus which have a change in the genetic makeup which is detrimental to mankind and have a high growth rate.