Scientists have confirmed the emergence of a new COVID variant, which they have warned of its possible dominance due to new mutations and ease of spread in the coming dry season/winter.

The variant known as XEC reportedly emerged from earlier Omicron sub-variants and was first identified in Germany around June, but now seen in other countries, including Denmark, United States (U.S.) and United Kingdom (UK).

Reports on X (formally Twitter) show that people have started catching the new variant, but experts explained that although available vaccines don’t prevent the spread of XEC, it could still help prevent severe cases.

Director of the Genetics Institute, University College London, Prof Francois Balloux, told BBC News that the new variant had a slight transmission advantage over other recent COVID variants and warned of a possible dominance of XEC over the winter.

Another researcher, Eric Topol, told LA Times that although it’s months off from getting into high levels, XEC appeared to be the next new variant just getting started and would definitely take charge.

“That is going to take many weeks, a couple months, before it really takes hold and starts to cause a wave,” he added. However, the news of this emergence seems to have sparked lots of theories and controversies on social media, as many are of the opinion that the news was only a ruse to convince people into getting the newly approved and updated COVID jab.

While a recent update by U.S. Centre for Disease Control (CDC) on COVID vaccine showed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved and authorised the 2024-2025 mRNA COVID-19 vaccines on August 22, 2024, as well as Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, Adjuvanted (2024 -2025 Formula) under Emergency Use Authorisation on August 30, 2024, the report of XEC by BBC on X was met with all sorts of disapproval.