Angela Onwuzoo A new COVID-19 variant, XEC, has spread across 27 countries, including France and the United States, infecting more than 600 people. XEC is the latest in a long list of past and current COVID variants being monitored as the COVID-19 virus naturally evolves. Findings by PUNCH Healthwise indicate that XEC was identified in Germany, in June and more cases of the variant have since emerged in the UK, the US, Denmark, and several other countries.
According to scientists, XEC has some new mutations that might help it spread this autumn, although vaccines should still help prevent severe cases. They noted that the variant appears to spread more easily than previous types of COVID-19 but cases of the infection have not been as severe as those seen during the peak years of the pandemic. Health experts have described the strain as a recombinant variant.
Recombinants can occur naturally when a person is simultaneously infected with two COVID-19. The XEC variants, health experts say, are a product of recombination between two hybrids of previously discovered omicron sub-variants – KS.1.
1 and KP.3.3.
These two parent variants are closely related, having both evolved from JN.1, which was the dominant variant around the world at the start of 2024. Researchers detect XEC cases through the Gisaid public database, where viral genetic sequences are submitted for examination.
This platform identifies mutations in SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Currently, the US .