XEC: New Covid Variant Rapidly Spreading, Now In 27 Countries | Here's What We Know So Far

Scientists have flagged a new coronavirus variant, called XEC, which is rapidly spreading across Europe and could soon become the dominant strain. Dubbed a “more contagious” Covid variant, it was first identified in Germany in June and, has since, emerged in 27 other countries, including the UK, US and China.

While there are no reported cases of XEC from India yet, 500 samples from 27 countries – Poland, Norway, Luxembourg, Ukraine and Portugal among others – were detected with this variant.

What is the XEC variant?

According to a report published by The Independent, the XEC variant is a hybrid of earlier Omicron subvariants, KS.1.1 and KP.3.3 that are dominant in Europe at present. But, experts pointed to strong growth of the new variant in Denmark, Germany, UK and the Netherlands, the report said.

The BBC reported that XEC has some new mutations that might help it spread this autumn and possibly gain dominance in the winter. Vaccines, however, should still help prevent severe cases, it said.

“The XEC variant appears to be the most likely one to get legs next,” Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, recently wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Topol said XEC is “just getting started”. “And that’s going to take many weeks, a couple months, before it really takes hold and starts to cause a wave,” he said.

He added: “XEC is definitely taking charge. That does appear to be the next variant. But it’s months off from getting into high levels.”

While the World Health Organization (WHO) has not yet publicly profiled XEC, the Scripps Covid-19 epidemiology tracker Outbreak.info has sequencing information on the variant. It is already gaining attention for how contagious it appears to be.

Professor Francois Balloux, director of the Genetics Institute at University College London, told BBC that although XEC has a “slight transmission advantage” over other recent variants, vaccines should still offer good protection.

What are the symptoms?

Health and wellness website Prevention said XEC may be more infectious than other recent strains because it has several mutations on the spike protein, which is what SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) uses to latch onto cells and cause infection.

“Like every SARS-CoV-2 variant that appears — and will appear, in perpetuity — the spread is related to evolution of the virus to develop new mutations that allow it get around some of the immunity engendered by prior infections and vaccinations,” infectious disease expert Amesh A Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Prevention.

No new symptoms have been reported as XEC is a new variant, but you can look out for some common coronavirus ones as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• New loss of taste or smell
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhoea