Omicron XE is not more dangerous than Delta strain - expert

Specialists do not have unambiguous data regarding the duration of immunity remaining after the earlier COVID

XE, a new variant of the COVID-19’s Omicron strain, is not likely to be more dangerous than previous coronavirus strains, including the delta strain, department head of the Sechenov University Vitaly Zverev told, Qazet.az reports.

"When the Omicron appeared, some people that had got through the Delta also got through the Omicron," Zverev said. "It was mild but there have been cases when people got ill again. In my opinion, this next variant does not have such differences from the Delta to raise flags and say that our collective immunity disappeared and everything should start again," the expert noted.

Specialists do not have unambiguous data regarding the duration of immunity remaining after the earlier COVID, Zverev said.

"It [the immunity] was in place for more than twenty years after SARS among <…> those that had it," the expert stressed. "Just two years have passed; we do not know for how long the immunity will remain," Zverev added.

The XE strain was found for the first time on January 19, 2022 in the United Kingdom.