Talk of the new Covid variant – known as XEC – is currently rife, with reports emerging that the variant, first detected in Germany in June, is spreading across the United States and the rest of Europe.

COVID levels in the U.S. remain high, according to wastewater detections, which is a retreat from the CDC’s label of “very high” earlier in the summer. About 15% of COVID tests reported to the CDC are positive, and that rate has been trending downward, as have been COVID-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

The XEC variant is the product of a recombination (exchanged pieces of genetic material between two variants) between the KS.1.1 variant and the KP.3.3 variant. These two parent variants are closely related, having both evolved from JN.1, which was the dominant variant around the world at the start of 2024.