 | COVID-19: India's first case of Omicron XE variant confirmed by INSACOGAmidst a spike in Covid cases, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) has finally confirmed the presence of Omicron's sub-variant XE, which is 10 percent more transmissible, in India.The confirmation from INSACOG came after XE - a recombinant variant of BA.1 and BA.2 sub lineages of Omicron - was reported from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala. The Union health ministry has yet to comment on the variant. |
 | Omicron in community transmission stage in India, new sub-variant found"Omicron is now in community transmission in India and has become dominant in multiple metros, where new cases have been rising exponentially. BA.2 lineage is in a substantial fraction in India and S gene dropout based screening is thus likely to give high false negatives," the INSACOG bulletin said. |
