Sure, here is a more detailed paraphrasing of the text:Scientists have warned that a **“more contagious” variant of the virus**, named **XEC**, is starting to spread more rapidly and could soon become the dominant strain.

**At this juncture, the XEC variant appears to be the most likely one to get legs next**, said the director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla in a post on X on 15 September.

Researchers predicted in August that this could take a few weeks to a couple of months to take off.

XEC, a sublineage of the virus, was first reported in Berlin, Germany, in June and is now spreading **“quite rapidly” across Europe, North America, and Asia**, according to Covid data analyst Mike Honey.

Slovenia had high rates of infection with this variant in August, as over **10 percent of Covid case samples** from the country contained XEC.

It is a hybrid of previously discovered omicron subvariants – KS.

1.

1 and KP.

3.

3 – of the novel coronavirus that causes Covid.

Recombinant variant XEC is continuing to spread and looks likely to be the next challenger against the now-dominant DeFLuQE variants (KP.

3.

1.

1.

*).

Here are the leading countries reporting XEC: **Strong growth in Denmark and Germany (16-17%), also the UK and Netherlands (11-13%)**.

It is characterized by mutations in the building block molecules **phenylalanine (F) altered to leucine (L), and arginine (R) to threonine (T)** on the spike protein that the virus uses to attach to human cells.

The second omicron subvariant KP.

3.

3 belongs to the category FLuQE where the amino acid **glutamine (Q) is mutated to glutamic acid (E)** on the spike protein, making its binding to human cells more effective.

So far, over **500 samples from 27 countries**, including Poland, Norway, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Portugal, and China, have been found to contain XEC.

As the novel coronavirus continues to evolve, data suggests XEC is growing steadily each day with an advantage over previously known subvariants.

**At this juncture, the XEC variant appears to be the most likely one to get legs next**.

Its current status is nicely tracked by a thread.

Its symptoms are similar to those of previous Covid variants, including **fever, sore throat, cough, loss of sense of smell, loss of appetite, and body aches**.

But since it is still only a sub-family of the same omicron lineage, experts say keeping up to date with vaccines and booster shots would offer sufficient protection against severe illness and hospitalization.

The US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention also advises people to practice good hygiene and to take steps for cleaner air.

Researchers have called for monitoring the XEC variant more closely to better understand its symptoms.