The day before it became known that the first case of infection with the new Omicron XE strain was detected in Japan. The virus was detected at the quarantine point at Narita Airport near Tokyo in a young woman who had arrived from the United States. The exact strain was determined by genetic analysis, and the woman was asymptomatic. The new omicron-type strain of coronavirus XE is a "hybrid variant" that lies between the VA and VA.2 strains. There is a 10 percent chance it will be more infectious than VA.2.

WHO has identified the potentially most infectious variant of the coronavirus, the XE line. The new strain is spreading 10 percent faster than all of its predecessors and has already been reported in several countries.   The features of the new XE coronavirus strain, in addition to the high rate of transmission from one person to another, include a rapid and often asymptomatic course of the disease and low lethality. According to experts, the new strain will be able to displace all previous covid variants and spread rapidly around the world and within a month, bypassing the entire planet, the Xe strain will renew collective immunity and finally displace heavy strains such as "delta. Just as happened with "omicron," which continues to supplant all previous strains. Cases of infection with the new covid strain in Great Britain, India, Thailand and New Zealand are already known today. If a person is vaccinated or has had any type of coronavirus, the XE strain is not very dangerous for him. The risk group is those who have been vaccinated or had the disease more than a year and a half ago, and also suffer from severe diseases of the cardiovascular system, lungs, etc. Such people are recommended to be tested for coronavirus infection at the first signs of illness, and if there is a concomitant disease, to continue observation in the hospital.

To date, doctors have identified three lines that were formed after the fusion of mutations of different COVID-19 strains - XD, XF and XE. The first two resulted from the fusion of the "delta" variants and the "omicron" BA.1 subline. As for the XE lineage, it was the result of combining "omicron" variants BA.1 and BA.2. On Friday, April 8, 25,000 people in China were diagnosed with the coronavirus, the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic in the PRC. The spike in cases is due to a new variant of the omicron strain, BA1.1.

As of April 12, 2022, a total of:

- 481,550,694 cases (+458,310),

- 5,832,595 deaths from coronavirus (+1,289)

- 420,913,612 people recovered (+1,239,495).

- There are 54,804,487 people on treatment.

The current global mortality rate is 1.21%.

According to official statistics of coronavirus (site Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center) in the world from April 11 to 12 most people were infected with COVID-19 in the following countries: USA - 533.115 people, Spain - 163.027 people, Italy - 152.271 people, France - 129.654 people and Germany - 125.452 people.

Department of Propaedeutics of Paediatric Diseases