India reports first case of Covid variant XE in Mumbai
The new strain was detected in the UK at the start of the new year
India's first case of coronavirus variant XE was detected in Mumbai, NDTV reported on Wednesday.
The patients with the new variants of the virus don't have any severe symptoms so far. The new mutant may be more transmissible than any strain of Covid-19, World Health Organisation had said last week.
The Mumbai patient is a 50-year-old costume designer who returned from South Africa in February. She tested positive for Covid on 2 March, the BMC said in its release.
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The new strain was detected in the UK at the start of the new year. Britain's health agency said on 3 April that XE was first detected on 19 January and 637 cases of the new variant have been reported in the country so far.
XE is a "recombinant" which is a mutation of BA'1 and BA.2 Omicron strains. Recombinant mutations emerge when a patient is infected by multiple variants of Covid. The variants mix up their genetic material during replication and form a new mutation, UK experts said in a paper published in British Medical Journal.
XE is a "recombinant" which is a mutation of BA'1 and BA.2 Omicron strains.
