First case of new COVID-19 variant ‘Omicron XE’ detected in Mumbai

KATHMANDU: APRIL. 6 – The first case of the more transmissible new COVID-19 variant Omicron XE has been detected in Mumbai.

The virus was confirmed following the results of the 11th test under the COVID-19 virus genetic formula determination – 228 or 99.13 percent (230 samples) of patients were found to be infected with Omicron.

Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation reported that one patient was affected by the ‘XE’ variant of COVID-19 and another by the ‘Kapa’ variant.

A case of the Kappa variant was also detected, according to the official, who added that the findings came from genome sequencing of 376 samples, the 11th batch of testing in the genome sequencing lab.

The Omicron variant was detected in 228 of the 230 samples from Mumbai, while the Kappa and XE variants were detected in one. According to the official, the patients infected with the new strains of the virus were in good health.

According to the official, the XE mutant appears to be 10% more transmissible than the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron. So far, BA.2 has been identified as the most contagious of the COVID-19 variants.

The XE variant is a “recombinant” mutation of the BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron strains. According to preliminary research, the XE variant has a 9.8 percent growth rate over the BA.2, also known as the stealth variant due to its ability to avoid detection.

According to the World Health Organization, the latest mutant may be more transmissible than previous ones.