A new Covid variant has been reported across the globe with fears it will soon be the dominant strain of the illness. Cases of the XEC variant, first detected in Germany in June, have since been reported in the UK, United States, Denmark and other countries. Experts say the strain is now “taking charge” and will likely continue to spread globally.
Researchers predicted in August this variant could take anywhere from few weeks to a couple months to take off and spread more rapidly. The strain has now been detected in at least 29 countries and 24 US states. XEC, a sublineage of the omicron variant , was first reported in Berlin, Germany, in June and is now spreading “quite rapidly” across Europe, North America and Asia, according to Covid data analyst Mike Honey.
The Czech Republic had the highest prevalence of the variant as 16 per cent of Covid case samples from the country contained XEC. The strain, a combination of the KS.1.
1 and KP.3.3 variants, presents symptoms similar to those of other Covid variants including tiredness, headaches, a sore throat and high temperatures.
However, researchers have called for monitoring the XEC variant more closely to better understand its symptoms. Prof Francois Balloux, Director of the Genetics Institute at University College London told the BBC that the XEC variant is more contagious but that vaccines should still offer good protection as it is from the Omicron family. He says it is possible XEC will become the dominant subvariant.