60-yr-old Vadodara Man Tests +ve for XE Variant, Say Sources; 'Has No History of Inter-state Travel'

A case of new Covid variant, XE, has been found in Gujarat, sources in health minister confirmed on Saturday. One case of XM variant has also been detected in the state as well as Mumbai, they said.

According to sources, a 60-year-old man from Gotri area of Vadodara city was tested positive on March 11, following which his sample for sent for genome sequencing. The result of the sequencing showed he had contracted the XE variant. They further said that man has mentioned no inter-state travel.

On Wednesday, the first case of XE, a more transmissible Covid-19 variant, was detected in Mumbai. But the data of the patient, a South African resident who has recovered from the infection since, will be sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBGM) for further confirmation, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official had said.

The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) experts were conducting genomic analysis of the coronavirus case reported as that of XE variant by Mumbai civic officials though scientific evidence so far does not indicate it to be so, official sources said. A woman who arrived from South Africa in February was found to have this Omicron sub-variant, BMC officials claimed, adding that she was asymptomatic and recovered from the infection.

Dr Gagandeep Kang, Professor at Christian Medical College in Vellore, has said that the new XE variant is not a matter of concern as it is not likely to cause any more severity than other sub-variants of Omicron (BA.1 and BA.2) did.

Variants will come because people are travelling. Of what we know of the variant (XE) is that it is not a point of concern, Kang said. We were worried about BA.2 but it did not cause more serious disease than BA.1. XE does not cause more serious disease than BA.1 or BA.2, she said on the sidelines of a panel discussion organised by John Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute in New Delhi.

She added that in a vaccinated population XE variant is not something to be bothered about. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued warning against XE, a new variant of Omicron first detected in the UK.

(details awaited)

Read all the Latest News India and Breaking News here