A highly transmissible COVID-19 variant has arrived in Australia. What you need to know about XEC

A new highly transmissible variant of COVID-19 has been detected in Australia, raising questions about whether it will lead to a wave of COVID-19 cases over summer. The XEC strain has been reported in 29 countries including the United States, United Kingdom and China, according to global health data platform GISAID.Here’s what we know about the XEC variant and how many cases have been reported in Australia.What do we know about XEC?XEC is a “recombinant” COVID-19 variant, which means it’s a mix of two previous Omicron subvariants called KS 1.1 and KP 3.3.A recombinant variant is created when someone is infected with two strains of a virus that go on reproduce and create another strain.There are conflicting reports about where the strain originated, but most suggest it was first detected in Germany in May or June.XEC is a recombinant variant made from the KS 1.1 and KP 3.3 strains. (Unsplash: Medakit Ltd)Cases have been reported in 29 countries, according to GISAID, including…