The first case of the Omicron XE variant in India has been detected in Mumbai, and confirmed by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi.
The 67-year-old man travelled from Mumbai to Gujarat, where he suffered from mild fever on March 12. His samples were sent for genome sequencing tests. The results came out on Saturday, confirming it to be Omicron XE. The man was fully vaccinated with Covishield (AstraZeneca), is asymptomatic and stable. The process to trace his contacts is underway.
The Omicron XE variant is a combination of BA.1 and BA.2 strains of Omicron and is found to be responsible for enhanced viral transmission as per preliminary reports.
