beijing the disclosure of new covid variants emerging in china and the rise of a potentially more transmissible strain in the uk has recast the spotlight on the ongoing risk of the virus even as health experts say theres no reason to panic the world health organization said a hybrid of two omicron strains ba1 and ba2 that was first detected in the uk and dubbed xe could be the most transmissible variant yet it is estimated to spread 10 more easily than ba2 which itself was more transmissible than the original omicron famous for its ease of penetration meanwhile in china which is experiencing its biggest outbreak since wuhan authorities have disclosed two novel omicron subvariants that dont match any existing sequences its unclear if the infections were oneoff events of little significance or if they may be a sign of problems ahead if the chinese authorities efforts to constrain transmission are ineffective against a highly highly transmissible virus like an omicron variant this could become a threat for the rest of the world said rajeev venkayya a former white house biodefense adviser who became the chief executive officer of drugmaker aerium therapeutics inc in march we know that uncontrolled transmission of the virus can lead to more viral evolution and an evolution around vaccines and therapeutics potentially making them less effective he saidfda hearingthe continued circulation of covid19 nearly 25 years after it was first detected in china driven by the development of mutations that allow infections to surge and deaths to batter the same locations again and again remains a key issue for a world ready to live with the virus the us food and drug administration is holding a hearing this week to discuss what booster shots will be needed and how to select which specific strains of the virus they should targetthe number of infections from these new variants are tiny given the scope of the outbreaks that are still happening worldwide and scientists have documented the emergence of many variations that have gone nowhere the uk health authorities have recorded more than 630 cases of xe underscoring that more information is needed we should monitor the new recombinants closely but we should not panic at the moment said leo poon a virologist and university of hong kong professor who has tracked and written reports on the emergence of new strains its not unexpected to see covid recombinant variants or a mix of two previous strains particularly since the delta and omicron strains have been circulating widely he said its likely that some people would be infected by both strains if a variant were to be detected in multiple regions and was spreading in the community then that would be of concern he said chinas disclosureschinas recent disclosures on novel variants come at a very early stage of spread making it hard to know how significant the findings areofficials in the eastern chinese city suzhou about 110 kilometers from shanghai reported an infection