of Thanassis Gavos
A new variant of the coronavirus that concerns scientists has been detected in the United Kingdom, with the first indications that it may be 10% more contagious than other variants of the Omicron mutation.
The UK Health Insurance Agency (UKHSA) has announced that it is studying the XE variant, which for the time being appears to have emerged from Omicron (BA.1) and Omicron 2 (BA.2) strains.
As of March 22, 637 confirmed have been detected cases of the new variant in England.
As of March 16, it was estimated that the growth rate of XE dispersion was 9.8% higher than that of Omicron 2.
However, the UKHSA has not yet been able to say with certainty that the new variant has a transmission advantage over the original Omicron variants.
The head of the service, in fact, Dr. Jenny Harris, said that such recombination of variants usually declines “relatively quickly”. He added: “So far there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions about the transmissibility, severity or effectiveness of vaccines” regarding XE.
This variant has also been detected in Thailand and New Zealand.
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