Japan Detects First Case Of Xe Strain Of Omicron
Japan's health ministry has confirmed the country's first case of the XE strain of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The ministry said a woman in her 30s was found to be infected with the XE strain after she arrived in Japan from the United States on March 26.
The woman tested positive for the coronavirus at Narita Airport near Tokyo.
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases detected the XE strain through genetic sequencing tests using a sample collected from the woman.
The woman showed no symptoms.
She stayed at a facility for infected people at the request of the health ministry, and left the facility nine days after she entered Japan.
The XE strain is said to be a combination of the BA.1 and the more contagious BA.2 subtypes of the Omicron variant. The new derivative strain has been detected in Britain and other countries.
British health authorities estimated in a report that the infection rate of the XE strain was 12.6 percent faster than BA.2.
Wakita Takaji, who heads the Japanese health ministry's expert panel, said last week that the severity of the XE strain was not yet fully known.