There is another new Covid variant spreading around the world and it could reach Australia before Christmas. Australians, especially those travelling overseas, are being warned to be vigilant.
The “potentially more contagious” XEC strain was first detected in Germany in June and has since been identified in 27 cases.
Experts believe this variant could become the dominant one within a few months as the Northern Hemisphere gets colder.
“XEC is a recombinant of two other sub-variants,” Australian infectious diseases expert Dr Paul Griffin told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.
It is a descendant of the infamous Omicron Covid strain and a recombinant variant of KS.1.1 and KP.3.3.
‘It’s still quite early,’“It is too early to speculate at this point about the symptoms, severity, etc.,” said Dr. Griffin.
“But in the countries where the disease emerged early, it appeared that the disease had a significant growth advantage. That would indicate that the disease is probably immune, evasive and possibly more contagious.”
Therefore, “the medical community is watching this closely to see if this is the next subvariant that is driving another surge in activity,” he said.
Another new Covid variant is spreading around the world and could reach Australia before Christmas. Australians, especially those travelling overseas, are being warned to be vigilant.
Dr. Griffin said it is not yet known whether XEC is effective. will require a change in the composition of the Covid vaccine.
‘The vaccination plan is quite complicated at this stage. The World Health Organization and virtually all other regulatory agencies agreed that JN.1 was the new vaccine.
‘The US came out and said they wanted a KP.2 vaccine (but) the rest of the world is rolling out JN.1 updated boosters, a“And that’s what we still get here,” he said.
However, if XEC turns out to be a highly significant subvariant, work will be done on an adapted vaccine to address this.
Regarding when XEC is expected to arrive in Australia, Dr Griffin said: “There is a tendency to look at what we have experienced in the past year or two and expect that it will be the same for us.
‘But the main thing about Covid is that it is still quite unpredictable.There are a number of factors that will determine whether we will see more waves of transmission.
“Part of it is the subvariant, but it also has to do with other factors,” he said.
Experts say one of the reasons why Australia is seeing an increase in Covid cases in the run-up to Christmas is because it is the middle of winter on the other side of the world and conditions are such that the risk of infection is increased.
“The world has become very small again, and that activity ends up being imported into our country,” said Dr. Griffin.
The ‘potentially more contagious’ XEC strain was first discovered in Germany in June and has since been identified in 27 cases.
Australian infectious diseases expert Dr Paul Griffin (pictured) said: ‘XEC is a recombinant of two other sub-variants’
‘We may see a new wave of increased infections in the coming weeks, but it may also take months before we see that.’
The Department of Health reported that as of August 29, no sequences of the XEC variant had been reported to Australia’s genomic surveillance system.
“SARS-CoV-2 variants are expected to continue to evolve and the Interim Australian Centre for Disease Control continues to closely monitor the emergence of new Covid-19 variants both within Australia and internationally,” a spokesperson said.
‘In Australia, states and territories are conducting targeted genomic sequencing sampling to ensure we remain vigilant in responding to emerging variants.’