Carrying a large number of mutations! COVID-19 has a new variant BA.2.86! Mutations have been detected in these countries | BA. 286 | Countries
On August 16, WHO said on the social media X platform that it had detected a new COVID-19 mutant called BA. 2.86, which carries a large number of mutations and has now been listed as a "monitored mutant".
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also stated on the same day that they are tracking this new highly mutated virus lineage. At present, this variant has been detected in the United States, Denmark, and Israel. The World Health Organization stated that so far, only a few countries have reported a few sequences of this variant.
When XBB dominated the global popularity, the sudden emergence of this BA. 2.86 mutant reminded us of the early variant BA. 2 in the era of COVID-19 Omicron.
Wesley Long, Medical Director of Diagnostic Microbiology at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, USA, explained that this new lineage has 36 mutations compared to the currently dominant 33B. 1.5 variant. However, it remains to be seen whether this variant can defeat other virus strains in competition, or have an advantage in evading previous infections or immune responses from vaccination.
"Obviously, the emergence of BA. 2.86 means that it is not enough for us to only focus on the XBB variant, and we should carry out more extensive monitoring on the COVID-19 variant." A virus immunologist told the First Finance reporter.
According to Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hatch Cancer Center in the United States, early analysis suggests that the new variant BA. 286 will be more likely to escape antibodies produced by previous generations of Omicron variants than 33B. 1.5. However, a more likely scenario is that the transmissibility of BA. 286 is still much lower than the current main variant XBB, so this new variant cannot gain a transmission advantage, but more sequencing data is still needed.
A public health expert told First Financial reporters that the BA. 286 sequence has not yet been detected in sewage monitoring, indicating that the transmission level of the mutant strain is very low and the quantity is not large; Moreover, based on the number of branch reported sequences detected by the BA. 2 variant, BA. 286 is still far from being ranked.