The country’s first Coronavirus XE variant has been found in Mumbai, the BMC said on Wednesday. She is a costume designer who tested positive after coming from South Africa. The finding was made in a batch of 230 samples from the city of which 228 were found to be infected with Omicron. The other was a Kappa infection. BMC officials said there is no cause for concern, even as they urged citizens to stick to preventive practices.

As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), the new variant, first detected in the UK in mid-January, appears to be more transmissible than previous strains of Coronavirus. Over 600 cases of XE infection have been reported across the world so far.