Insight Bureau:  Confusion reigns over the detection of Covid XE Variant in India.

Covid XE Variant, the new Omicron strain known to be more transmissible than previous strains of the novel coronavirus has set alarm bells ringing across the World.

While some media offices reported that the first case of COVID-19 variant XE was detected in Mumbai on Wednesday, the official sources have clarified that the present evidence does not suggest that it is ‘XE’ variant of Covid-19.

The FASTQ files in respect of the sample, which is being said to be ‘XE’ variant were analysed in detail by genomic experts of Indian SARS-CoV -2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) who have inferred that the genomic constitution of this variant does not correlate with the genomic picture of ‘XE’ variant, said the official sources.