The XE variant is a sub-variant of Omicron. Better, it is a recombination of two strains of the variant, namely BA.1 and BA.2. An association which makes it a recombinant “10% more contagious than BA.2” according to the World Health Organization (WHO), enough to worry the health authorities when we know that BA.2 alone caused a wave of contaminations. A variant that has already declared itself in a few countries: Finland, Thailand and Israel. But which has mainly spread in the United Kingdom. With more than a thousand cases already identified. Read also: Covid: a first case of the XE variant confirmed this Monday in Japan, the list of affected countries is growing “A higher rhythm” This Thursday, April 21, Spain, too, reported its first cases of the variant XE. “According to information coming to us from the United Kingdom, it has been progressing in recent weeks at a higher rate than that of BA.2,” says the Spanish Ministry of Health. A variant which, in Spain, evolves at a relatively slow speed, with BA.2 still being dominant with almost 99.3% of the cases studied in week 13 (from March 28 to April 3). In fact, if no case of the XE variant has yet been detected in France, the country finds itself “surrounded” by the XE variant.