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A new strain of COVID-19 which has been predicted to become the dominant variant globally in the next few months, is rapidly spreading through Europe and the United States.

The new variant, known as XEC, was first detected in Germany in June but has spread across 27 countries, including France and the US, infecting more than 600 people.

XEC is the latest in a long list of past and current COVID variants being monitored as the COVID-19 virus naturally evolves.

The strain has been described by health experts as a recombinant variant. Recombinants can occur naturally when a person is simultaneously infected with two different COVID-19.

The XEC variants, health experts say, is a product of recombination between two hybrids of previously discovered omicron sub-variants – KS.1.1 and KP.3.3. These two parent variants are closely related, having both evolved from JN.1, which was the dominant variant around the world at the start of 2024.

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