A new variant of the coronavirus of concern to scientists has been detected in the UK, with early evidence suggesting it may be 10% more contagious than other variants of the Omicron mutation.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it is studying the XE variant, which for now appears to have arisen from Omicron strains (BA.1) and Omicron 2 (BA.2).
Based on data up to 22 March, 637 confirmed cases of the new variant have been detected in England.
Up to 16 March it was estimated that the rate of increase in dispersal of XE was 9.8% higher than that of Omicron 2.
However, UKHSA noted that it is still unable to say with certainty that the new variant has an advantage in terms of transmission over the original Omicron variants.
The head of the agency, in fact, Dr Jenny Harris, said that such variant recombinations usually wane "relatively quickly". As she added, "so far there is not enough evidence to draw bs conclusions about the infectivity, seriousness or efficacy of vaccines" regarding XE.
This variant has also been detected in Thailand and New Zealand.
Source: CNA
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