The variant, which first appeared in Berlin in late June, has increasingly seen hundreds of cases in Germany, France, Denmark and Netherlands, according to a report by Australia-based data integration specialist Mike Honey.

Over the last few days, a new Omicron variant has been grabbing headlines in Europe and the US. That’s “XEC” - a “recombinant” variant that has parts of its genetic material inherited from two different variants, each which descend from JN.1.

As flu season nears, so do new COVID-19 variants. A newly discovered COVID strain known as XEC continues to spread rapidly across multiple countries, including the United States and California. First appearing in late June in Berlin,