Nearly 1,300 cases of a new Covid variant have been identified by scientists in the UK. The UK Health Security Agency has updated its records to include the new mutation, registered as V-22APR-02, with cases having doubled in a month.
The strain, understood to be a combination of two Omicron variants, was previously named Omicron XE. There are understood to be 1,293 officially cases in England and one in Northern Ireland.
Omicron XE is one of three 'recombinants' the UKHSA has been investigating. Recombinants occur when two strains of Covid combine to create a new variant.
