The World Health Organization has warned that a new mutated variant of Ómicron christened with “XE” may be the most transmissible strain of Covid to date.

In many countries BA.2 option is available, Known as Omicron 2 or Stealthbecause of its ability to evade PCR testPredominant breed. For example, in the United States Centers for Infectious Disease Control (CDC, sigal in English) announced this week that the variable is a file 30% more transferable than the original Micron (or BA.1) And that became dominant Among the new cases in United State.

As of Thursday, BA.2 already accounts for 55% of all US cases, A much higher number than the 7.4% of cases at the end of February.

This is a sudden increase for a variable less than 1% of all sequences In January in that country. But, only when Americans and many countries, such as Chile, They only fear a new wave thanks to this alternative, There is already another variant that was recently discovered and the cases of which are increasing, which is feared to be more transmissible.

In fact, According to a report from Deadline.com, there are three new variables that got assignments. according to Transfer Recently Posted by UK Health Service Agencythe two named XD and XF are a mixture of Delta and BA.1, or so-called “strains”. deltacrone‘, which was discussed for months But it has not had much impact in any country.

XD is present in several European countries but has not been detected in the UK, according to the report. XF caused a small wave of infections in that country, But it has not been discovered there since February 15. The most worrisome alternative, according to this report, Apparently, it is called XE.

have been identified More than 600 cases of variantaccording to UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA, its English acronym).

Like other newcomers, XE is a recombinant strain, which means that it consists of two different variables previously. But it is not a combination of Deltacron. XE already consists of a file Original Omicron (BA.1) and the Latest Omicron (BA.2).

This combination of infection means that the genetic material of the variant is mixed inside the patient’s body. This is not unusual, and has in fact happened several times during the pandemic.

The World Health Organization Released on Thursday a report With some preliminary details of this new alternative

Recombinant XE was first discovered in the UK on January 19 and more than 600 sequences have since been reported and confirmed. Who is the. “Preliminary estimates suggest a community growth rate advantage of 10% over BA.2, but this finding requires further confirmation.”

According to the British Health Agency, 637 cases of XE, recombinant Omicron BA.1 and BA.2, have been recorded to date.

But according to the agency, There is currently insufficient evidence to draw conclusions about the growth advantage or other characteristics of this variant. We continue to closely monitor all recombinants on a routine basis with our world-leading capacity in genomic monitoring and sequencing.

the teacher Susan Hopkins, Senior Medical Adviser at UKHSARecombinant variables, he said, are not an unusual event, particularly when there are many variables in circulation, many of which have been identified over the course of the pandemic so far. As with other types of variants, most of them will die relatively quickly.”

However, the agency indicated that it will continue to monitor this new variant closely, should cases continue to increase and the new dominant strain become in that country and in the world.