The first case of XE, a highly transmissible Covid-19 variant, was detected in Mumbai in a 50-year-old woman who had traveled to South Africa, said the Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation in a press release on Wednesday. However, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) experts have claimed that after genome sequencing, the evidence does not suggest that the XE variant has been detected in India.
The corporation said that the patient, who is a costume designer by profession and was a member of a film shooting crew, was asymptomatic and recovered from the infection. She arrived from South Africa on February 10. “She did not have any travel history prior to that. She had been vaccinated with both doses of the COMIRNATY vaccine,” it said, adding that on arrival in India, she tested negative for Covid-19, but on March 2, she tested positive during routine testing. In the subsequent test, she tested negative. She had been quarantined in a hotel rook during this period.
Official sources said, “FastQ files in respect of the sample, which is being said to be ‘XE’ variant were analysed in detail by genomic experts of the INSACOG who have inferred that the genomic constitution of this variant does not correlate with the genomic picture of ‘XE’ variant.”
What is the XE variant?
A BMC official said the XE variant, which was first detected in the UK, appears to be 10 percent more transmissible than the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron. So far, BA.2 was deemed to be the most contagious of all the Covid-19 variants.
The XE variant is a mutation of the BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron strains, referred to as a “recombinant. As per the initial studies, the XE variant has a growth rate of 9.8 percent over that of BA.2, also known as the stealth variant because of its ability to evade detection.
What are the symptoms of Omicron XE?
Symptoms and severity of the Covid-19 change from person to person, depending on vaccination status and immunity from previous infections.
Some of the symptoms are – fever, sore throat, scratchy throat, cough and cold, skin irritation and discoloration, gastrointestinal distress etc.
Some of the symptoms of severe diseases are – heart ailment, palpitation, and sometimes the infection can also cause severe nerve diseases.
(with inputs from agencies)
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