THIRD WAVE OF COVID-19

• Recently, a 50-year-old woman in Mumbai, may have been infected with the newly-discovered ‘XE’ variant of the coronavirus.
• XE is a sub-variant of Omicron, which caused the third wave of Covid-19, which had not been found in India until now.
• So far, there is no indication that it is more dangerous than other variants.
• The Omicron variant, which is responsible for over 90% of the infections detected in 2022, has two prominent sub-variants, called BA.1 and BA.2.
• The XE variant is what is called a ‘recombinant’. This means it contains the mutations found in BA.1 as well as BA.2 varieties of Omicron.
• Recombinant variants are not uncommon.
• For example, variants that contain the characteristic mutations of Delta and Omicron have also been identified.
• This was first discovered in the United Kingdom in January 2022, and so far more than 600 samples of XE have been found in different countries.
• In fact, variants that contain the characteristic mutations of Delta and Omicron have also been identified.
• As of now, there is no evidence to show that the XE variant is significantly different from the other varieties of Omicron.
• However, this variant is noticed to be about 10% more transmissible than the dominant BA.2 variant.
• In India, it was the BA.2 that was the most dominant during the third wave.
• Nevertheless, a fresh wave of infections in India can never be ruled out, considering that the virus has not been eliminated, and is also undergoing mutations.
• When a virus multiplies it doesn’t always manage to produce an exact copy of itself.
• This means that, over time, the virus may start to differ slightly in terms of its genetic sequence.
• Any changes to the viral genetic sequence during this process is known as a Mutation.
• Viruses with new mutations are sometimes called Variants. Variants can differ by one or multiple mutations.
• When a new variant has different functional properties to the original virus and becomes established in a population, it is sometimes referred to as a New Strain of the virus.
• All strains are variants, but not all variants are strains.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT