A new sub-variant of COVID-19, known as XFG (nicknamed Stratus), was first detected in Thailand in April and, to date, 23 infections have been recorded, according to Dr. Yongyos Thammawut, director-general of the Medical Sciences Department.
XFG was designated by the World Health Organisation as a variant being monitored on June 25th, because it spreads quickly and is capable of evading the immune system, he said, adding that there is, however, no confirmation yet that it can cause more severe symptoms than other sub-variants.
XFG is a sub-variant of Omicron, of which there are now more than 1,000 cases. It was one of the seven sub-variants being monitoring as of June 25th.
Dr. Yongyos said the Medical Sciences Department has been decoding the genetic makeup of COVID sub-variants from 236 samples, collected between May 26th and June 23rd, and discovered that 83.9% of them were of the NB.1.8.1 sub-variant, 6.8% of the XDG sub-variant and 5.9% were of the XEC sub-variant.
He noted that XFG is likely to become the dominant sub-variant in the near future.
