Caption Colorized scanning electron micrograph of a cell infected with the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (pink), isolated from a patient sample. Image captured at the NIAID ...

In the case of COVID-19, the virus has mutated multiple times, leading to variants like Alpha and Delta, and various subvariants of Omicron. “Variants that can infect people better or evade ...

Getty Images Early data suggests Omicron leads to fewer hospital admissions ... and those discovered to have the virus after being admitted for something else, says Prof Helen Rees at the ...

XEC is an Omicron variant and has several spike mutations, which is what the virus uses to infect you—and because of those mutations, it might be more infectious than previous strains.

Caption Colorized scanning electron micrograph of a cell (purple) infected with the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (green), isolated from an individual. Image captured at the NIAID ...