Mumbai confirms Omicron’s XE recombinant variant; Union Health Ministry denies it

INSACOG has decided to take up another round of genomic sequencing at a national lab for confirmation

The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday refuted claims that India has reported its first case of the COVID-19 variant, XE, in Mumbai. The rebuttal came shortly after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that the results of the 11th batch of next generation genome sequencing conducted by it on 230 COVID-19 positive patients had found one case of Omicron’s new sub-variant, XE.

The BMC noted that a 50-year-old female patient, a costume designer by profession and a member of a film shooting crew, who had arrived from South Africa on February 10, 2022, had tested positive for XE. The civic body added that she is double vaccinated, and she tested negative for COVID-19 on arrival in India, but on March 2, 2022, in routine testing conducted by Suburban Diagnostics, she was found to be positive and quarantined. The result of the test done on the following day was negative.

According to the BMC, out of 230 COVID-19 patients tested, 228 were infected with the Omicron variant while one was infected by the Kappa variant. Of these, 21 had to be admitted to hospital. None of them was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or needed oxygen support.

A senior health official, however, maintained, “FactQ files in respect of the sample, which is being said to be the XE variant, were analysed in detail by genomic experts of the 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 the XE variant.’’

The BMC in its release said: “The patient’s lab sample has been referred to Kasturba Hospital Central laboratory for whole genome sequencing. It has been found to be a new XE variant in initial sequencing. Though GISAID also confirmed it, INSACOG has decided to go for another round of genomic sequencing at national laboratory for sure confirmation of XE variant.”

“This lady is totally asymptomatic and found to be RT-PCR negative on repeat testing. XE, a new variant of COVID, is a combination of the BA.1 and BA.2 strains of Omicron and found to be responsible for enhanced viral transmission according to primary reports. Frequent changes in genomic structure are part of the natural life course of the viruses and there is no need to be scared but everyone should opt for appropriate precaution,” the BMC said.