New COVID-19 variant XE identified in UK but experts say not to be alarmed

New COVID-19 variant XE identified: What to know and why experts say not to be alarmed A new COVID-19 variant has been identified in the United Kingdom, but experts say there is no cause for alarm yet. ABC News ABC News

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The variant, known as XE, is a combination of the original BA.1 omicron variant and its subvariant BA.2. This type of combination is known as a "recombinant" variant.

"Right now, there's really no public health concern," said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor. "Recombinant variants happen over and over. In fact, the reason that this is the XE variant recombinant is that we've had XA, XB, XC, XD already, and none of those have turned out to be any real concern."

According to an update last week from the U.K. Health Security Agency, 637 cases of XE have been identified as of March 22, with the earliest detected Jan. 19. ...