New Delhi: India’s first case of Coronavirus variant XE was reported in Mumbai today, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has said in a media release. One case of the Kappa variant has also been detected. 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, the World Health Organisation had said last week.
Official sources from the union health ministry, however, disagreed, saying the present evidence does not suggest that it is XE variant.
“FASTQ files in respect of the sample, which is being said to be XE variant, were analysed in detail by genomic experts of INSACOG who have inferred that genomic constitution of this variant does not correlate with genomic picture of XE variant,” an official said.
“The patient had foreign travel history and we put the patient’s sample for genome sequencing along with 230 samples. Of the 230, 228 had Omicron BA2 variant and one had Kapa and one was detected with XE,” Additional BMC Commissioner Suresh Kakani told NDTV.
“As per the guidelines of the World Health Organisation, the BA 2 and XE is at par so far the spreadability is concerned. As of now there is nothing to worry about,” he added.
