In the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no shortage of new coronavirus variants to track.
On April 11, Japan reported its first case of the omicron XE variant, in a woman who arrived at Narita Airport from the U.S. That was followed by news on May 2 that a man in his 50s who flew to Haneda Airport from the U.S. was also infected with XE. Also, on April 28, a previously unknown omicron variant was reported in a patient in the city of Sendai.
So what are these variants? Why do new variants keep emerging? And how alarmed should we be? Here¡¯s what you need to know about the current situation regarding coronavirus variants.
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