XCR1 and COVID-19: Out of 18 protein-coding genes associated with COVID-19, twelve have been reported previously (5, 6), including ABO, CCR9, CXCR6, DPP9, FYCO1, IFNAR2, LZTFL1, OAS1, OAS2, OAS3, SLC6A20, and XCR1. The present analysis uncovered six novel risk genes contributing to severe COVID-19, including LIMD1, CCR3, CCR1, CCR2, LRRC2, and VSTM2A. A majority of these six genes are located in the 3p21.31 locus (CCR1, CCR2, CCR3, CCRL2, and LRRC2), while another gene VSTM2A maps to newly identified loci in the 7q31.1.