Czech health officials on Europe's new Covid variant: Here's what you need to know

Czech health experts say that a new variant of the so-called Covid-19 XEC strain is active in at least 11 European countries, raising concerns that it could become the dominant variant on the continent by late autumn.

The newly identified XEC variant of Covid-19 is, scientists say, a “more contagious” variant of the classic Covid-19 virus. It is a sublineage of the Omicron variant.

Symptoms are similar to previous Covid-19 variants, including fever, sore throat, cough, loss of smell, loss of appetite, and body aches. 

Officials have discovered the hybrid variant in Germany, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Poland, the UK, Denmark, Ukraine, France, Ireland, Sweden, Italy, and Spain. It is also highly prevalent in the U.S., where the variant is now active in "half of all states," American media outlet CBS News reports.

Given the recent summer season and associated heavy cross-border travel, probably. However, as of yet, it is unknown whether this new variant has been officially declared in Czechia. "I am convinced that no one can say whether [it has occurred] in the Czech Republic," epidemiologist Roman Chlíbek told Czech media outlet TN.cz this week.

Although more harmful than previous, recent variants, there is no real cause for panic.

"We anticipate XEC to have similar properties to currently circulating variants, with no change in infection severity or vaccine effectiveness against severe disease," a European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) spokesperson told international media outlet Euronews this week.

"We do not have enough evidence as to whether it [XEC] is clinically more serious," Chlíbek added.

According to Chlíbek, claims that the new variant will spread faster than the previous ones have been repeated for a long time. "The important thing is that there is no change in the [national] vaccination strategy," he added.

"Vaccination is the most effective measure to protect against more severe forms of Covid-19 and seasonal flu," the ECDC has said.

Czech health experts have reassured the public that existing vaccines are also effective against the XEC variant and have urged people to get vaccinated before winter.

In August, Health Minister Vlastimil Válek announced that the government was anticipating a rise in Covid-19 cases in the coming months. As a result, the Health Ministry purchased 700,000 doses of the vaccine against the disease. Válek emphasized the importance of vaccination during autumn.

As previously, you may get a Covid-19 vaccination free of charge at your general practitioner’s office (if available) or at a vaccination site. The official Ministry of Health portal, Óčko Report, provides a handy and regularly updated map of where you can get a vaccination (also specifying the type). 

The new adapted vaccine Comirnaty JN.1 against another recent variant of Covid-19 is already available in the Czech Republic. There is no current vaccine that specifically targets XEC, though experts say that – in the vast majority of cases – current vaccines will protect against the new variant.