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.

Researchers are tracking the latest COVID strain "spreading rapidly" in parts of Europe ... According to reports, this latest variant first popped up in Germany but has been detected in roughly two dozen other countries since June. XEC has been detected ...

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.