Ahmedabad: The first case of XE in Gujarat was reported on Friday, when a businessman in his sixties tested positive for the XE strain of the coronavirus, official sources informed. The man had tested positive on March 13 and recovered in a week.
According to the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation, a Mumbai resident, who visited Vadodara with his wife on March 11, where they had met two Britishers, has been detected with the new XE variant.
The patient had symptoms and accordingly, he got tested on March 12 and was found Covid-positive. Later, the couple took a private cab and returned to Mumbai via road. He isolated himself at home till March 20.
“The patient is stable and healthy and did not have any symptoms. Both his wife and maid, who were tested as part of close contact tracing, have tested negative for the virus,” said Dr Mangala Gomare, executive health officer, BMC.
The XE version is a recombinant that health authorities are tracking closely and it is a hybrid of the BA.1 and BA.2 variants, first detected in the United Kingdom in January this year. About 600 cases have been reported so far, and scientists believe it may be about 10 per cent more contagious than BA.2.
The new XE variant of Covid-19 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), said Dr Gagandeep Kang, Professor, Christian Medical College, Vellore, on Thursday.
