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Last Updated: September 18, 2024, 19:11 IST
While there are no reported cases of XEC from India yet, 500 samples from 27 countries were detected with the new coronavirus variant. (Image for representation: AFP)
Dubbed a "more contagious" Covid variant -- a hybrid of earlier Omicron subvariants, KS.1.1 and KP.3.3 -- it was first identified in Germany in June and, has since, emerged in 27 other countries including UK, US and China
Scientists have flagged a new coronavirus variant, called XEC, which is rapidly spreading across Europe and could soon become the dominant strain. Dubbed a “more contagious” Covid variant, it was first identified in Germany in June and, has since, emerged in 27 other countries, including the UK, US and China.
While there are no reported cases of XEC from India yet, 500 samples from 27 countries – Poland, Norway, Luxembourg, Ukraine and Portugal among others – were detected with this variant.
According to a report published by The Independent, the XEC variant is a hybrid of earlier Omicron subvariants, KS.1.1 and KP.3.3 that are dominant in Europe at present. But, experts pointed to strong growth of the new variant in Denmark, Germany, UK and the Netherlands, the report said.
The BBC reported that XEC has some new mutations that might help it spread this autumn and possibly gain dominance in the winter. Vaccines, however, should still help prevent severe cases, it said.
“The XEC variant appears to be the most likely one to get legs next,” Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, recently wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Topol said XEC is “just getting started”. “And that’s going to take many weeks, a couple months, before it really takes hold and starts to cause a wave,” he said.
He added: “XEC is definitely taking charge. That does appear to be the next variant. But it’s months off from getting into high levels.”
While the World Health Organization (WHO) has not yet publicly profiled XEC, the Scripps Covid-19 epidemiology tracker Outbreak.info has sequencing information on the variant. It is already gaining attention for how contagious it appears to be.
Professor Francois Balloux, director of the Genetics Institute at University College London, told BBC that although XEC has a “slight transmission advantage” over other recent variants, vaccines should still offer good protection.
