Covid: First XE and XM Variants Found in Gujarat
NEW DELHI, April 9: Preliminary genome-sequencing has revealed the presence of XE, a sub-variant of Omicron virus and considered to be by far the most transmissible variant, in Gujarat, according to top sources in the union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The patient tested positive for Covid-19 on March 13 and recovered in a week.
After genome-sequencing, it has been discovered that the patient was infected with the XE variant of coronavirus. However, the sample will be re-examined to confirm its presence, the government sources said. Genomic analysis of the sample is underway, the health ministry said.
Meanwhile, one case each of the XM variant has also been found in Gujarat and Maharashtra’s Mumbai.
The new variant XE is a mutant hybrid variant of two versions of Omicron – BA.1 and BA.2. It only accounts for a small fraction of cases across the globe at the moment. It appears to be around ten per cent more transmissible than the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron, as per the World Health Organisation.
Until now, the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron was considered the most contagious strain of Covid-19. The XM variant, found in Mumbai and Gujarat, is also a recombinant hybrid of BA.1 and BA.2 strains of Omicron.
On Wednesday, Mumbai’s civic body declared that India’s first case of the XE variant had been detected in the city, but the central government then disagreed with the findings.
The centre’s research body, INSACOG, stated that the case would be re-examined. “There is a need to reconfirm the case and find out whether the sample is infected with the “recombinant” variant or multiple exposure to the virus variants. We will run genome sequencing again to check for multiple exposures,” INSACOG sources said. The re-examination of the Mumbai case is not yet complete. The sample has been sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune.
(Manas Dasgupta)
