new Delhi: According to news agency sources, the Indian Sars-CoV-2 Genomic Consortium (INSACOG) is tracking XE COVID-19 variant instances in the country with emphasis on hospitalization and serious incidents, but there is no need to panic. ANI reported.
“Till this sequence is not verified after isolating the virus, we will not be able to comment on it. We will have to wait to know whether it is isolated or not,” sources told ANI.
One case of XE variant was detected in Gujarat, which was confirmed by the Additional Chief Secretary, Gujarat Health Ministry.
“We are in touch with the governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The Biotechnology Research Center found the mutation in the sample, hence the need for genome sequencing after which the sample was sent to Kolkata where they have confirmed the sample as the XE variant. We have found Confirmation,” Manoj Agarwal, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Government of Gujarat was quoted by ANI in its report.
He said the person who tested positive for the virus traveled from Maharashtra to Baroda in Gujarat.
“A 66-year-old man traveling from Mumbai to Vadodara’s Gotri was staying in a private hotel and showed symptoms of COVID-19 and tested positive. But he went to Mumbai by road. We traced the contacts of the three persons. have been traced and all of them tested negative,” he said.
What is XE Variant?
XE, a sub-variant of Omicron that caused the third wave of COVID-19 this winter, has never been discovered in India before.
The revelation of its discovery raised fears of a new wave of infections in India, where Covid-19 cases continue to decline and are already at their lowest level in more than two years.
The WHO indicated in a 5 April report that the XE recombinant was being tracked as part of omicron type. According to preliminary estimates, XE has a 1.1 percent community growth rate advantage (or 10% transmission advantage) compared to BA. However, it must be proved.
“The SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to evolve. Given the current high level of transmission around the world, it is likely that further variants, including recombinant ones, will emerge. Recombination is common among coronaviruses and is considered an expected mutational event,” the WHO report reads.
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