A new COVID variant has emerged, with some scientists saying it could soon be the dominant strain of the virus. While global cases of the XEC variant remain small in number, it may "represent a sizeable proportion" of infections by the winter.

A new COVID variant, XEC, has arrived just before fall. The new variant has sprouted from the Omicron variant that developed in late 2021. Though XEC is new, Prof Francois Balloux, director of the Genetics Institute at University College London, told the BBC that he would be surprised if it became the dominant variant throughout winter.

That means like other variations of COVID, the symptoms are similar: The new vaccines are monovalent, or target one variant. This shot targets the KP.2, but since XEC has similarities between KP.2 and XEC, experts believe that the vaccine should work.