The new XE variant of COVID-19 has been detected in Quebec, following being discovered for the first time in Europe last January.
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“We have detected a first XE sequence. No other recombinants (XA to XM) have been detected at this time,” said Aurèle Iberto-Mazzali, communications adviser at the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), in an email to the media on Thursday. QMI Agency.
A means to detect potential recombinants in the sequencing data has since been put in place, it was specified.
And Quebec is not the only province to have identified cases of this new variant, since the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has confirmed the detection of six cases in the country as of April 6, according to the spokesperson Anne Genier.
The XE variant combines properties of the BA.1 and BA.2 variant and is considered the hybrid variant of most concern, since no information is yet available on its degree of virulence.
In particular, the scientists are seeking to establish whether this new variant can modify the severity of the disease and its transmissibility, but also whether it has effects on the vaccines and treatments already in place once morest COVID-19.
- Listen to Geneviève Pettersen’s interview with Dr. Gaston De Serres, medical epidemiologist at the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec, on QUB radio:
The transmissibility of the XE variant is slightly higher than that of the BA,2 variant, according to international reports, but other data would be necessary to confirm this.
Remember that a hybrid variant develops when a person contracts both strains of the virus at the same time.
