According to experts, the COVID-XEC variant is already appearing in 27 countries

As flu season approaches, new variants of COVID-19 are emerging.

A newly discovered COVID strain called XEC continues to spread rapidly in several countries, including the United States

Scripps Research's Outbreak.info site, last updated on September 5, reported 95 XEC cases in 12 U.S. states and 15 different countries.

However, Australia-based data integration specialist Mike Honey wrote on X Saturday that the new variant that emerged in Berlin last June has appeared in hundreds of other patients in 27 countries in Europe, North America and Asia.

The omicron variant KP.3.1.1, also known as deFLuQE, accounted for over half (52.7%) of COVID-19 cases between September 1 and 14. However, scientists say XEC and a variant known as MV.1 appear to be the next dominant strains.