Mumbaikars need not panic about the XE variant of Covid-19 and continue following the Covid-appropriate behaviour to keep the virus at bay, the experts and task force members have said. The city has so far reported two XE variant cases, of which one still needs confirmation from the Centre.  As per the experts, the XE variant is a recombinant mutant of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 sub-lineage. It means, it is a subtype of the Omicron variant.

Dr Shashank Joshi, a Covid Task Force member, said, “It is an unknown variant. Its current behaviour is very similar to BA.1 and BA.2 of Omicron. As of now, there is hardly any data to make any conclusion. There is no need to panic and people must follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.”