WHO warns against new Covid strain ‘XE’

Vax open for 5 to 11 age group in UK

Advertisement

London: Parents and carers of children aged between five and 11 years will be able to book a Covid vaccine for them in England from Saturday. The bookings for the inoculation of the age group will open on Monday. AP

ON ALERT

• The World Health Organisation has issued a warning against new mutant ‘XE’, a variant of Omicron, that may be more transmissible than any strain of Covid-19 seen before
• It is a recombinant strain, meaning it is a mutant hybrid of the two previous versions of the Omicron variant — BA.1 and BA.2 
• The new variant is 10% more transmissible than the BA.2 subvariant, which is already the most contagious
• It was first detected in the UK on January 19 and less than 600 sequences have been reported. IANS