New COVID variant XE in Mumbai: Need to reconfirm, says govt's research body
According to Mumbai's civic body BMC, it is the first case of the XE variant in the country. However, the sample will be sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) for further examination.
- Apr 7, 2022,
- Updated Apr 7, 2022 8:04 AM IST
Hours after the first case of the XE COVID-19 variant was detected in Mumbai, top officials of the government's research body INSACOG said the case will have to be re-examined.
"There is a need to reconfirm the case and find out whether the sample is infected with the "recombinant" variant or multiple exposure to the virus variants. We will run genome sequencing again to check for multiple exposures," INSACOG sources told India Today TV.
"We will need to isolate this virus subtype and check for reconfirmed results," they added.
Also Read: India's first XE variant of COVID-19 case: Govt denies report
According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), it is the first case of the XE variant in the country. However, the sample will be sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) for further examination in order to confirm the new variant.
On Wednesday evening, Mumbai's civic body said that a 50-year-old woman, who has been fully vaccinated against COVID and has manifested no symptoms so far, is the country's first case of the new variant, which according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is 10 times more transmissible than Omicron. The BMC added that the patient has no comorbidities.
Meanwhile, sources in the Health Ministry refuted the presence of the XE variant in the patient's sample.
"FastQ files in respect of the sample, which is being said to be the 'XE' variant, were analysed in detail by genomic experts of INSACOG who have inferred that the genomic constitution of this variant does not correlate with the genomic picture of the 'XE' variant," the sources told India Today TV.
What BMC said
The civic body of Mumbai said in its latest sero survey report that of the 230 samples sent for sero survey from patients from the city, 21 were eventually hospitalised.
However, none of them needed oxygen support or intensive care, according to the report. Of the ones hospitalised, nine had taken both doses of the COVID vaccine, while the rest were all unvaccinated.
Also Read: COVID-19: First case of Omicron sub-variant XE reported in Mumbai
None of the patients who had been administered the first jab had to be hospitalised, the report stated. As many as 228 samples were detected to be infected with the Omicron variant. One patient tested positive for the XE variant, whereas the other for the Kappa variant.
New COVID variant 'XE'
The new variant was first detected in the United Kingdom earlier this year and is a mutant hybrid of two versions of Omicron - BA.1 and BA.2.
It only constitutes a small fraction of cases across the world at the moment.
Thus far, the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron was deemed to be the most contagious strain of COVID-19. If the new research is confirmed, it would make the XE variant the most transmissible COVID mutant yet.
(With inputs from Milan Sharma and Mustafa Shaikh)
Hours after the first case of the XE COVID-19 variant was detected in Mumbai, top officials of the government's research body INSACOG said the case will have to be re-examined.
"There is a need to reconfirm the case and find out whether the sample is infected with the "recombinant" variant or multiple exposure to the virus variants. We will run genome sequencing again to check for multiple exposures," INSACOG sources told India Today TV.
"We will need to isolate this virus subtype and check for reconfirmed results," they added.
Also Read: India's first XE variant of COVID-19 case: Govt denies report
According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), it is the first case of the XE variant in the country. However, the sample will be sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) for further examination in order to confirm the new variant.
On Wednesday evening, Mumbai's civic body said that a 50-year-old woman, who has been fully vaccinated against COVID and has manifested no symptoms so far, is the country's first case of the new variant, which according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is 10 times more transmissible than Omicron. The BMC added that the patient has no comorbidities.
Meanwhile, sources in the Health Ministry refuted the presence of the XE variant in the patient's sample.
"FastQ files in respect of the sample, which is being said to be the 'XE' variant, were analysed in detail by genomic experts of INSACOG who have inferred that the genomic constitution of this variant does not correlate with the genomic picture of the 'XE' variant," the sources told India Today TV.
What BMC said
The civic body of Mumbai said in its latest sero survey report that of the 230 samples sent for sero survey from patients from the city, 21 were eventually hospitalised.
However, none of them needed oxygen support or intensive care, according to the report. Of the ones hospitalised, nine had taken both doses of the COVID vaccine, while the rest were all unvaccinated.
Also Read: COVID-19: First case of Omicron sub-variant XE reported in Mumbai
None of the patients who had been administered the first jab had to be hospitalised, the report stated. As many as 228 samples were detected to be infected with the Omicron variant. One patient tested positive for the XE variant, whereas the other for the Kappa variant.
New COVID variant 'XE'
The new variant was first detected in the United Kingdom earlier this year and is a mutant hybrid of two versions of Omicron - BA.1 and BA.2.
It only constitutes a small fraction of cases across the world at the moment.
Thus far, the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron was deemed to be the most contagious strain of COVID-19. If the new research is confirmed, it would make the XE variant the most transmissible COVID mutant yet.
(With inputs from Milan Sharma and Mustafa Shaikh)