India’s first case of Coronavirus variant XE was reported in Mumbai today, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has said in a media release. Now fear start for Lockdown Again: India’s First Case of Coronavirus Variant XE Reported from Mumbai.
Don’t get tensed for lockdown guidelines Maharashtra government’s Covid-19 task assured the citizens that there was no need to panic about the detection of the XE variant of the virus. Public already stressed from last two lockdown. One case of the Kappa variant has also been detected. The patients with the new variants of the virus don’t have any severe symptoms so far. The new mutant may be more transmissible than any strain of Covid-19, the World Health Organisation had said last week.
Official sources from the union home ministry, however, disagreed, saying the present evidence does not suggest that it is XE variant. “FASTQ files in respect of the sample, which is being said to be XE variant, were analysed in detail by genomic experts of INSACOG who have inferred that genomic constitution of this variant does not correlate with genomic picture of XE variant,” an official said.
“The patient had foreign travel history and we put the patient’s sample for genome sequencing along with 230 samples. Of the 230, 228 had Omicron BA2 variant and one had Kapa and one was detected with XE,” Additional BMC Commissioner Suresh Kakani told media.
“As per the guidelines of the World Health Organisation, the BA 2 and XE is at par so far the spread ability is concerned. As of now there is nothing to worry about,” he added.
‘No need to panic’ Maharashtra Covid task force member said on XE variant
A new Coronavirus subvariant has made its way to India and the first case is detected in the financial hub of the country, Mumbai. However, on Wednesday, a member of the Maharashtra government’s Covid-19 task assured the citizens that there was no need to panic about the detection of the XE variant of the virus.
The member also did urge citizens to continue following Covid-appropriate behaviour. Mumbai is the first in India to record the case of the XE variant of the Coronavirus disease. Dr. Shashank Joshi through his Twitter account cited official sources while saying, “FastQ files in respect of the sample, which is being said to be ‘XE’ variant were analysed in detail by genomic experts of INSACOG who have inferred that the genomic constitution of this variant does not correlate with the genomic picture of ‘XE’ variant.”
Joshi further said, “Mumbai XE variant case occurred in first week in March from an international traveler who fully recovered but Genomic data is out today. No need to panic, follow covid appropriate behavior.” The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in a statement stated that the hybrid of two omicron strains has been detected in a 50-year-old woman who had travelled to the city from South Africa in February.
Notably, the woman had tested negative on her arrival from South Africa. The elderly woman was fully vaccinated and had no co-morbidity and was asymptomatic. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned about the new subvariant, typically a hybrid strain of two Omicron subvariants. The international public health body, stated that the XE variant of the virus is more transmissible than any other Covid strain so far.
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As per WHO, the recombinant variant appears to be 10% more transmissible than the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron. Also, a UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) study recently revealed that currently as many are 3 hybrid COVID variants are circulating. The two different combinations of Delta and BA.1 are XD and XF. The third is XE.
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