There’s a new thread on Twitter by Tom Peacock of Imperial College covering the latest information on the SARS-CoV-2 recombinants XD, XE and XF.

XD is the new name for the French Delta x BA.1 lineage.

XE is a large UK BA.1 x BA.2 lineage. Sequenced and verified by @UKHSA and @sangerinstitute, first identified by @nzm8qs

XF is a UK Delta x BA.1 lineage. Again sequenced and verified by @UKHSA and first identified by @nzm8qs

Thread starts below:

With three Omicron-related recombinants getting assigned Pango lineages I'm going to write a thread covering:
– What are recombinants?
– Why are we seeing so many now?
– What exactly are the new lineages XD, XE and XF?
– How concerned should we be about them? pic.twitter.com/PrPGaUSs3p

— Tom Peacock (@PeacockFlu) March 16, 2022

** Were they named XD, XE and XF for Scrabble purposes? **

Preprint: SARS-CoV-2 Omicron – multiple inter-variant recombination events

Image by Markus Distelrath from Pixabay