India reports first case of new coronavirus variant XE in Mumbai

India on Wednesday reported its very first case of the new XE variant of coronavirus from Mumbai. The variant, believed to be more transmissible than Omicron, was first detected in the United Kingdom.

The patient, a 50-year-old woman, is fully vaccinated against the virus and has shown no symptoms so far, Mumbai's civic body BMC said. She also suffers from no comorbidities.

A costume designer by profession, she arrived from South Africa on February 10, 2022. On arrival in India, she tested negative for Covid-19 but on March 2, 2022, during routine testing, she was found to be positive, following which she was quarantined at the Taj Lands’ End in Mumbai’s suburban Bandra. However, the next day, her samples returned negative.

In its latest sero survey report, BMC said that of the 230 samples sent for sero survey from patients from Mumbai, 21 were subsequently hospitalized. However, none needed oxygen support or intensive care, the report said.

Of those hospitalized, nine had taken both doses of the vaccine. The rest were all unvaccinated. None of the patients who had taken their first jab had to be hospitalized, the report said.

228 samples were found infected with the Omicron variant. One tested postive for the XE variant while the other for the Kappa variant.

The new variant XE is a mutant hybrid of two versions of Omicron - BA.1 and BA.2. It only accounts for a small fraction of cases across the globe at the moment.