Yasmina Kattou, edited by Juline Garnier 2:27 p.m., April 14, 2022

In France, the upturn seems to be confirmed on the Covid side.

Contaminations decrease by almost 10% in one week, but the Covid has not disappeared.

We knew Omicron, which gave a variant, the BA.2.

The WHO has just detected two new ones: XE and XD.

And their particularity is that they are recombinant.

Europe 1 explains to you.

DECRYPTION

XE and XD.

These are the names of two new variants detected by the WHO this week.

These are "recombinant" variants, that is to say a mixture of two variants.

XD, is indeed the combination of the Delta strain and that of Omicron.

XE corresponds for its part to the association of BA.1 and BA.2.

When the epidemic was at its highest, in December and January, people were co-infected with two strains of Covid.

This is how these recombinants are created.

According to the first analyzes, the XD variant combines the symptoms of Delta, such as loss of taste and resistance to the Omicron vaccine.

About sixty cases have been identified in France.

Low levels of contamination in France

"The good news is that in the end, since we've been following the XD variant, since the beginning of January, its proportion in France has not increased, which is rather reassuring. This means that it will perhaps stay at low levels, or even disappear", explains Justine, head of the variant surveillance unit at Public Health France.

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This is unfortunately not the case with XE, which is spreading more quickly.

In the UK, 1,200 cases have been recorded.

This variant, which combines BA.1 and BA.2, could be 20% more contagious, say British authorities.

So far, XE does not appear to cause more severe forms.