Recombinant variants are are not formed by mutations but when two strains/variants combine/crossover inside the same cell, which transferases part of the mRNA of one variant and that of another and combines them. This can only happen of a person is simultaneously infected with 2 variants at the same time. So far not too much is know about this variant XBC, XBC.1, and XBC.2, but its prevalence in NSW is 2%. Look at the spike protein mutations below, and you can see it is very different to the other Omicron variants. We will learn about it virulence in time.

as you can see from the graph below, it is also in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the USA, Canada and Iceland so far.

Recombinant variants are a direct result of #covidcomplacency which is being fuelled by governments pretending the pandemic is over.

XBC is a recombinant of the Delta variant and Omicron BA.2. It was first detected in The Philippines and has been around for some time now but has not been thrashed by any of the current highly contagious infectious variants of Omicron. Let us not forget that the Delta variant had a (case fatality rate ) CFR some 20 time that of Omicron. I consider it to be potentially a very dangerous variant. Since it is a recombinant of the delta variant and omicron it must have been floating around for a good 12 month or so. It is one of many deltacrons that have formed. Most of the others have vanished.