Recent estimates published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the XEC COVID-19 variant is now circulating inside the United States.
According to the CDC’s Nowcast tracking tool, XEC makes up about 10 percent of all COVID-19 cases reported in the country as of Oct. 13. It’s now the No. 2 most common COVID-19 strain in the country, behind the K.P.3.1.1 variant that emerged earlier this year.
Both variants are derived from the Omicron strain that emerged in late 2021.
The XEC variant first appeared in Berlin in late June and has spread across Germany, France, Denmark, and Netherlands, according to a report from data integration specialist Mike Honey, citing the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data….