Key Points
- The XEC COVID-19 variant has emerged in Australia.
- In Australia, 329 sequences collected from August 26 to September 22 have been uploaded to AusTrakka.
- Experts say the variant is not more concerning than previous ones.
A new COVID-19 variant that comes from two earlier ones, has reached Australia, as experts signal it is likely not one to be more concerned about.
In Australia, 329 sequences collected from 26 August to 22 September have been uploaded to AusTrakka, Australia’s national genomics surveillance platform for COVID.
The current vaccines still provide effective protection against severe outcomes from circulating variants, research leader in virology and infectious disease, Griffith University Lara Herrero wrote in The Conversation.
XEC is currently making up around 20 per cent of cases in Germany, 12 per cent in the UK and around 6 per cent in the US.
It has spread to more than 27 countries across Europe, North America and Asia.
What do we know about XEC?
XEC was first detected in Berlin, Germany, in June, Professor Adrian Esterman, chair of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia
"It's gaining ground quite rapidly," he said.
The XEC variant is what's called a recombinant of two earlier variants: KS.1.1 and KP.3.3.
Esterman explained the JN.1 variant was a large shift away from the previous XBB variants, and had over 30 different mutations.
Subsequent mutations of JN.1 , also known as KP.2 and KP.3. The variant that is currently dominating around the world, KP.3.1.1, is a mutation of the FluQE called a DeFluQe.
"What's happened now is there is a FLirT subvariant, KS.1.1, and a FluQE subvariant, KP.3.3 which have combined ... and the viruses have actually swapped genes", Esterman said.
The virus 'will keep changing'
Esterman predicts the XEC variant will eventually take over from the current world leader, KP.3.1.1, but said there is another variant on the horizon called MV.1.
"It looks like XEC might not be the sole dominant subvariant coming up over the next few months — it looks like it might be matched by MV.1, with a battle between the two," he said.
Regardless, he believes there is no cause for alarm.
"It's not at all unexpected, and nothing I think that we should be too concerned about — except for the fact that potentially it could lead to a new wave. And, that means more infections, more hospitalisations and more deaths."
