The Indian SARS-CoV2 Genomics Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG) has said that one confirmed case of the XE Covid variant has been detected in India.
However, the location of this variant was not identified in the bulletin for April 25 released a day ago. The INSACOG also said that there is no cause of panic as no cluster of XE variants has been found so far.
“As compared to the previous week, 12 States have shown an increase in cases, while 19 States have shown a decline,” the bulletin from INSACOG said. The INSACOG in the bullein added that the suspected recombinant sequences are under further analysis. “BA.2.10 and BA.2.12 are BA.2 sub-lineages that have been detected and many old BA.2 sequences have been reclassified into these new sub-lineages.
So far these sub-lineages are not reported to be associated with increased severity of disease,” the bulletin said, adding that so far there are no reports of XE clusters across India.
The INSACOG had also in its April 18 bulletin mentioned one XE variant case in the country.
The INSACOG reports genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 across the country through sequencing of samples from Sentinel sites and International passengers arriving in India.
As per the latest bulletin, INSACOG has sequenced total 2,43,957 samples The XE variant of coronavirus is a sub-variant of Omicron, which caused the third wave of Covid-19 in India in January 2022. Covid's XE variant is a cross between two strains of the Omicron variant, namely BA.1, which is the original strain, and BA.2, which is the more infectious strain.
As of April 12, 2022, cases of Covid's XE variant have been detected in India's Gujarat and Maharashtra. Apart from India and the UK, Japan has also reported cases of the XE variant.
According to the World Health Organization, the XE variant was first detected on January 19, 2022, in the UK, and till March-end, more than 600 cases of the variant were reported and confirmed.