EXPLAINED | WHO Warns About New Covid-19 Variant 'XE'. Is It More Contagious? All You Need To Know

According to the WHO, three hybrid or recombinant strains of Covid have been detected so far, out of which the first - XD, the second - XF and the third - XE.

A man without a mask walks past a graffiti depicting people with masks. (Representative Image/ Getty)

New Delhi: Amidst the slowing pace of Coronavirus cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the emergence of another variant - a mutant strain XE. Preliminary studies have indicated that the rate of infection of the XE variant is about 10 percent higher than that of the BA.2 (sublineage of Omicron) variant.

According to the WHO, three hybrid or recombinant strains of Covid have been detected so far, out of which are the first - XD, the second - XF, and the third - XE. The first and second variants are derived from a combination of Delta and Omicron, while the third is a hybrid strain of the Omicron subvariant.

A recent study by the British Health Security Agency in the UK has revealed that there are currently 3 hybrid COVID variants running. It has two different variants XD and XF born out of the combination of Delta and BA.1 while the third one is XE.

Of these, the XD French Delta variant is the newest member of the X BA.1 lineage. It contains the spike protein of BA.1 and the genome of Delta. Currently, it consists of more than 10 sequences.

At the same time, the XF belongs to the British Delta x BA.1 lineage. It contains the spike and structural proteins of BA.1 but only a 5th of the genome of Delta. The XE variant also belongs to the British Delta BA.1 x BA.2 lineage. It contains the spike and structural proteins from BA.2 but also contains only a fifth of the genome of BA.1. There are currently hundreds of sequences in it.

The World Health Organization has warned about the XE variant and said, "The XE recombinant was first detected in the United Kingdom on 19 January and 600 sequences have been reported and confirmed since."

"Early-day estimates indicate a community growth rate advantage of 10% as compared to BA.2, however, this finding requires further confirmation."

Renowned virologist Tom Peacock said that recombinant variants can be just as dangerous as earlier variants. These contain spike and structural proteins from the same virus (such as XE or XF). Of these, the XD seems to be the variant of most concern. Patients infected with this variant have been found in Germany, Netherlands and Denmark.