Srinagar, April 6: India’s first case of the new Covid-19 variant, XE, was reported from Mumbai on Wednesday, the BMC has said in a press release.
The Omicron’s new sub-variant was detected in the latest genome sequencing of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) conducted at Kasturba Hospital, reported Indian Express.
The new mutant of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, first detected in the UK, may be more more transmissible, the WHO said last week.
The WHO, in its latest update, said that the XE recombinant (BA.1-BA.2) was first detected in the UK on January 19 and more than 600 sequences have been reported and confirmed since then.
The World Health Organisation had said that the new mutation XE appears to be 10 per cent more transmissible than the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron.
“Early-day estimates indicate a community growth rate advantage of 10 percent as compared to BA.2, however, this finding requires further confirmation,” the WHO said.