[Source: 1news]
The first case of the XE variant of Omicron in New Zealand has been confirmed by the Ministry of Health.
The person arrived in Aotearoa on Tuesday 19 April and was tested the following day.
Whole genome sequencing subsequently confirmed the variant.
The person is isolating at home.
The ministry said the arrival of XE was not unexpected as it had been spreading overseas.
“At this stage, the public health settings already in place to manage other Omicron variants are assessed to be appropriate for managing XE and no changes are required,” the ministry said in a statement.
“XE is a combination of BA.1 and BA.2 sub variants of Omicron. There is some early evidence that it may be slightly more transmissible than BA.2, which is more transmissible than BA.1.”
The ministry said there was “no evidence to date that XE causes more severe disease than other Omicron lineages, noting that it takes weeks or months to identify the severity of each new variant”.
