The rapid spread of Corona variant XEC surpasses initial predictions.
Even though the Coronavirus might not be as prevalent in everyday life, it's still actively mutating. The XEC variant has been creeping its way through Germany for quite some time now, with preliminary data suggesting it might be spreading faster than some other SARS-CoV-2 lineages. However, both the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) still consider the risk to public health as minimal. This variant typically doesn't lead to severe disease courses, according to their assessments.
As of the latest report on October 15, the XEC variant accounted for 27% of all coronavirus cases, down from 29% the week prior. The ECDC has designated the XEC variant as a variant under monitoring. Interestingly, the KP.3.1.1 variant was the most common type, making up 41% of all coronavirus cases. Neither of these variants is known to cause particularly severe COVID-19, according to the WHO and ECDC's findings.
The XEC variant doesn't seem to have a specific set of symptoms associated with it. "It's almost impossible to infer the sublineage based on individual COVID symptoms," said Hajo Zeeb from the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS). The diversity of COVID symptoms makes this task nearly impossible.
Respiratory infections in Germany reached an all-time high during the second week of October, surpassing levels seen in previous years. Based on self-reported cases via the "GrippeWeb" online portal, the Robert Koch Institute estimated an incidence of about 8,800 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which translates to approximately 7.4 million people in the overall population. This is the highest value since these surveys began in 2011. 22% of all respiratory infections were linked to coronaviruses.
The mutation of the XEC variant of the coronavirus continues to be monitored by the ECDC, despite its decrease in prevalence from 29% to 27% of all coronavirus cases. Even with this decrease, the constant mutation of the coronavirus remains a concern, as new variations could potentially increase transmissibility or cause more severe disease courses.
