Covid-19 fourth wave: One confirmed case of XE variant detected in India, says INSACOG

New Delhi: Indian SARS-CoV2 Genomics Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG) has said that one confirmed case of the XE variant of Covid-19 has been detected in India. However, INSACOG did not identify the location of this variant in its latest bulletin that was released on Tuesday, according to the news agency IANS.

"As compared to the previous week, 12 states have shown an increase in cases, while 19 states have shown a decline," the bulletin said. 

It further said that suspected recombinant sequences are under further analysis.

"BA.2.10 and BA.2.12 are BA.2 sub-lineages that have been detected and many old BA.2 sequences have been reclassified into these new sub-lineages. So far, these sub-lineages are not reported to be associated with increased severity of disease," the bulletin said, adding that so far there are no reports of XE clusters across India.

Also in its April 18 bulletin, the INSACOG had mentioned one XE variant case in the country.

The INSACOG reports genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 across the country through sequencing of samples from Sentinel sites and international passengers arriving in India.

As per the latest bulletin, INSACOG has sequenced a total of 2,43,957 samples. It may be noted that India on Monday reported 3,157 new Covid-19 cases, a decline from the 3,324 infections registered the previous day, according to the Union Health Ministry.