‘Most adults in Delhi vaccinated but…’: Top doctor's note of caution on XE variant

Dr Suresh Kumar of the LNJP Hospital said that though the new strain is yet to be observed in the city, doctors ‘fear the XE variant.’

Amid an uptick in Delhi’s daily Covid-19 cases, a senior doctor of a top city hospital said on Tuesday that though most adults in Delhi have been vaccinated against the viral illness, doctors are ‘fearful’ of the new ‘XE’ Covid variant. “We have to be careful and follow Covid-19 guidelines. Most adults are vaccinated, but we fear the new XE variant as a few states have reported this. But in Delhi, this variant has not been observed thus far,” Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, said, according to news agency ANI.

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Dr Kumar further spoke on the current pandemic situation in Delhi. “The majority of cases are mild in nature, most children are having fever and weakness while adults are maintaining oxygen saturation and don’t need oxygen support. Those having pre-existing conditions might have complications. We’re prepared to deal with the situation,” he said.

The XE is a combination of two strains of the Omicron variant, BA.1 and BA.2. In India, one case each was reported from Maharashtra and Gujarat, respectively. The Maharashtra case, found in Mumbai, was announced by the city’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on April 6; however, a day later, the Maharashtra government said that the state health department was yet to receive any confirmation regarding the variant and hence the department can't confirm it.

The Gujarat case, on the other hand, was found in a man who was on a social visit to Vadodara. The ‘XE’ strain was first detected in the United Kingdom in January.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s fresh Covid-19 infections jumped to 632 on Tuesday, up from 517 and 501 on April 17 and 18, respectively, according to a health department bulletin. There were as many as 414 new recoveries and no new death, while the daily positivity rate stood at 4.42%. The city’s cumulative tally is at 1,869,683, including 1,841,576 recoveries, 26,160 fatalities and 1,947 active cases.