At present, the number of newly confirmed cases in Malaysia is gradually decreasing, but health experts have reminded us that the Omicron XE recombinant variant strain may land in our country within a month, posing a new threat to the epidemic in our country.
The Omicron XE recombinant variant strain is a recombinant variant of two Omicron sub-strains, namely BA.1 and BA.2. It is said to spread 10% faster than Omicron. It was first discovered in the UK on January 19 this year. This strain has also appeared in Thailand, a neighboring country of Malaysia.
Initially, although XE spreads 10% more than the original Omicron, the severity of infection should not increase to a point of concern.
In any case, while there is currently no indication that the Omicron XE recombinant variant will cause severe symptoms like Delta infection, the risk to the unvaccinated, or those who have never been infected with the coronavirus, remains high.
As Malaysia has reopened its doors, the chairman of the Malaysian Public Health Association, Datuk Zainal Arifin, also predicted that Omicron XE will land in Malaysia in less than a month.
Experts say little is known about Omicron XE. If this mutant strain is the same as Omicron, then the Malaysian medical system can handle it. Because more than 99% of the confirmed cases are in the first to third stages.
On the other hand, in addition to the new XE variant, there are also two variant virus strains that have attracted the attention of experts from all over the world, namely XD and XF. Among them, XD is the reorganization of Omicron BA.1 and Delta, which is Deltacron. XF is a reorganization of UK Delta and BA.1, but the speed of spread has not exceeded BA.2 for the time being, so preliminary estimates are unlikely to become popular.
