After Omicron e Omicron 2Covid has registered a new variant, detected for the first time in Great Britain on January 19th, e renamed “Xe”. As announced by the UK Health Security Agency, which has already found the new sequence in tampons of 637 people, the new variant would be the result of a recombinant mutation of the BA.1 and BA.2 strains. At the moment, experts say it is too early to establish whether it is more contagious than the others but in fact, based on the first data, a greater transmissibility is hypothesized. And while the WHO is keeping Xe under observation, the United Nations health agency on the other is letting it know that it will continue to monitor this and other mutations.
In the latest WHO update on the global trend of Covid-19 we read that the first estimates indicate for this ” mix variant ” a possible “advantage of the growth rate of about 10% compared to BA.2, even if this data – it is specified – requires further confirmation. The first growth rates of the new Xe variant, updated to March 16, 2022, prove to be 9.8% higher than the BA.2 strain.
On the danger of the new variant, the WHO is not unbalanced and warns that “although a 10% more contagion for Xe compared to Omicron 2 “, until” significant differences in transmissibility “of the mutant” and in the characteristics of the disease “it causes,” including severity “are reported, Xe will be considered a variant belonging to the Omicron family. But it is possible that the recombination between Omicron 1 and 2 create a mix more similar to Delta and therefore with more serious consequences for health? According to experts, it is too early to say, even if many are observing that recombinant variants are not rare and generally have a shorter life than those from which they were generated, just think of what happened with Deltacron.
It is not the first time, in these two years of pandemic, that two variants of the Sars Cov2 virus “merge”, recombining and giving life to a mix variant. It already happened in the first half of January 2022 with Deltacrondiscovered in Cyprus and the fruit of mix between Delta and Omicron. A hybrid that, despite initial fears, never worried scientists and never became dominant. For this reason the experts prefer to remain cautious even in the face of a greater transmissibility of Xe, still to be ascertained. As to be ascertained are the consequences for health and relative to the efficacy of vaccines.
It is the UK Health Safety Agency itself that explains that the birth of recombined variants it is not uncommon and occurs when an individual comes infected with two or more variants at the same time. In this case there is a “mixing of their genetic material inside the patient’s body.” In practice, Xe would have originated in a Covid patient infected with Omicron 1 and Omicron 2.