New Covid-19 Variant XE is a Recombinant Strain: What does it mean?

New Covid-19 variant cases, 1st detected at the beginning of the year, continue to be reported across the globe, but health officials claim there is still not enough evidence to conclude whether or not is more transmissible or severe than other variants.

Omicron XE, which was 1st identified in the UK in January, it has been detected in Japan, the Japanese health ministry has announced Monday.

The variant was found in an asymptomatic woman in her 30, who arrived at Narita International Airport from the US on 26th March, her nationality was not disclosed.

Apart from Japan and the UK, the latter of which has been reported around 1,125 XE cases as of April 5th, the variant has been detected in Thailand, India and Israel. A handful of cases have also been reported in the US.

XE is a recombinant variant of Omicron's original BA 1 strain and it is so called Stealth, Strain, BA.2, the UK health Security Agency (UKHSA) stated in its latest COVID-19 Variants.

A recombinant variant does occur, when an individual tends to become infected with 2 or more variants at the same time, thus resulting in a mixing of their genetic material within the patient's body, the agency stated.

Recombinants are not a usual occurrence and several have been identified over the course of the pandemic, as per the UKHSA's chief medical advisor, DR. Susan Hopkins.

As with other kinds of variant, we find most would die off relatively quickly, the doctor stated.

XE's growth rate surpassed that BA.2 by up to 20.9% but with the former made up less than 1% of the total sequenced cases in England, while the latter accounted for 93.7% of cases, as per UKHSA.

This particular recombinant, XE has shown a variable growth rate and we cannot yet confirm as to whether it has got a true growth advantage. So far, there is not enough evidences to draw conclusions about transmissibility, severity or vaccine effectiveness, Hopkins noted.

The UKHSA would continue to monitor the situation closely, she stated.

The World Health Organization, for its part, would continue to study recombinants and offer updates as further evidence becomes available.

Epidemiologists in the US, are presently not monitoring XE, and it has not been labelled either as a variant of interest or variant of concern, the centers for Disease and Control Prevention stated on its website.

Overall, the UK has reported nearing to 26,679,280 Covid-19 cases and 188,991 virus related deaths, publicly available government data showed.