By Mario Deepromoter
A new strain of COVID-19 which has been predicted to become the dominant variant globally in the next few months, is rapidly spreading through Europe and the United States.
The new variant, known as XEC, was first detected in Germany in June but has spread across 27 countries, including France and the US, infecting more than 600 people.
XEC is the latest in a long list of past and current COVID variants being monitored as the COVID-19 virus naturally evolves.
The strain has been described by health experts as a recombinant variant. Recombinants can occur naturally when a person is simultaneously infected with two different COVID-19.