Covid-19: Sir Patrick Vallance warns 'virus hasn't gone away'
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The WHO has issued a warning about the new ‘XE’ variant of the coronavirus, which reports claim is the most transmissible strain yet. This new variant is a recombinant strain, meaning its a mutant hybrid of the two previous versions Omicron variant, BA.1 and BA.2, which spread across the world when it first became a variant of concern.
According to the WHO, BA.2, which is a subvariant of the Omicron strain, is the most dominant strain of the virus, being 86 percent of all sequenced cases attributed to it.
Yesterday, the WHO issued a report outlining their initial findings about this potentially new variant of concern.
The report said: “The XE recombinant (BA.1-BA.2), was first detected in the United Kingdom on 19 January and >600 sequences have been reported and confirmed since.
“Early-day estimates indicate a community growth rate advantage of ~10 percent as compared to BA.2, however this finding requires further confirmation.
XE belongs to the Omicron variant until
significant differences in transmission and disease characteristics, including severity, may be reported. WHO
continues to closely monitor and assess the public health risk associated with recombinant variants, alongside other
SARS-CoV-2 variants, and will provide updates as further evidence becomes available.
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