Government's response on the new variant of Corona: Ministry of Health said - Mutant XE is not present in the country, this variant is not confirmed in genome sequencing

The Health Ministry has denied the claim of the entry of a new XE variant of Corona into the country. The Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation had informed about the new variant on Wednesday. According to the ministry, the woman who is said to be infected with the XE variant is fully vaccinated and has no asymptomatic symptoms.

According to the Ministry of Health, experts from INSACOG, the government organization that monitors genome sequencing in India, analyzed fast Q files of test samples. Based on this information emerged that the genome of this variant did not match that of the XE variant.

Maharashtra Health Minister said - still waiting for the report

The Union Health Ministry said that based on the evidence available at the moment, the presence of XE in the sample is not known. The ministry also rubbished media reports regarding the new variant in Mumbai.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope has clarified the first case of the new variant. Tope said that we have sent the sample to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) for examination. Haven't confirmed there yet.

The Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation said on Wednesday that the results of the 11th test under genome sequencing were declared. In which the new variant has been confirmed. 230 samples were tested. Out of this, 228 samples were found with an Omicron variant, one XE variant, and one Kappa variant.

The infected woman had returned to the country from South Africa on February 10

According to the information, the woman in whom the new variant has been confirmed is a costume designer. She returned to India from South Africa on 10 February. He has received both doses of the vaccine and has no further travel history.

On reaching India, she was found negative. However, on March 2, she was found positive in a routine test and went into quarantine. She was found negative in the test conducted the next day i.e. on March 3.

The first case was found on January 19

The new XE variant is said to be a hybrid strain of two Omicron sub-variants - BA.1 and BA.2. The first case of the XE variant was traced to the UK on 19 January. Here, the World Health Organization (WHO) has also issued a warning regarding the XE variant. According to WHO, 10 times more dangerous than BA. This variant has also been found in France, Denmark, and Belgium.

Also Read: Corona's most infectious variant WHO said - the XE variant spreads 43% faster than Omicron, more than 500 cases were found in Britain