The new coronavirus variant is spreading rapidly! WHO: New mutant strains will emerge
Introduction: The World Health Organization stated that as JN.1 continues to mutate, new mutant strains will be derived, and it will continue to closely monitor the evolution of the virus.
According to data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on May 10, a new coronavirus variant named KP.2 has now replaced JN.1 as the main prevalent strain in the United States. However, the latest April data released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the mutant strain has not yet spread in the country.
According to the latest data released by the US CDC on Friday, the KP.2 variant accounted for 28% of new coronavirus infections in the United States in the two weeks as of May 11, compared with only 6% in mid-April.
The KP.2 variant of the new coronavirus was detected in sewers in the United States in March this year. At that time, it accounted for only 1% of new coronavirus infection cases, and has spread rapidly since then. In early May, the World Health Organization listed the KP.2 subvariant as a variant under surveillance. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's new crown technical director, previously stated that KP.2 is a descendant of the Omicron variant JN.1, which is currently the main epidemic strain in the world, and the KP.2 spike protein has additional mutations.
However, as of now, there is no sign of the spread of the KP.2 variant in China. According to the latest data released by the China CDC, from April 1 to April 30, 2024, 31 provinces and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported a total of 11,299 effective genome sequences of the new coronavirus in local cases, all of which were Omikeron mutant strains. . The main prevalent strains are JN.1 series mutant strains, and the top three are JN.1, JN.1.4 and JN.1.16.
The World Health Organization stated that as JN.1 continues to mutate, new mutant strains will be derived, and it will continue to closely monitor the evolution of the virus.
Some scientists collectively refer to KP.2 and another variant called KP.1.1, which share the same key mutations as "FLiRT," but KP.1.1 does not spread as quickly as KP.2. Infectious disease experts say additional mutations may make it easier for the virus to bypass immune protection provided by vaccines or previous infections.
The current U.S. coronavirus vaccine may not be as protective against KP.2 as it is against JN.1, according to a preprint study from a Japanese laboratory. But the study also suggests that KP.2 may be less efficient at infecting cells, meaning a higher dose of the virus is needed to infect people.
The new coronavirus is still mutating, which also brings new challenges to vaccination decisions. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration postponed an advisory committee meeting that would have decided on an updated version of the vaccine in the fall.
A spokesperson for the U.S. FDA said that due to the recent observed changes in the main circulating strains of the new coronavirus, additional time is needed to obtain more new surveillance data on the circulating strains of the new coronavirus to better inform the committee’s discussions and recommendations.
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that only a quarter of American adults have currently received an updated version of the new coronavirus booster vaccine. Amid plummeting demand for the vaccine, AstraZeneca said last week it would halt production and sales of its COVID-19 vaccine globally.
Despite this, some vaccine giants have not stopped research and development work related to the new crown vaccine. On May 10, local time, the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi and the American vaccine company Novavax announced that they had reached a joint exclusive license agreement to jointly commercialize the COVID-19 vaccine and develop a new influenza and COVID-19 combined vaccine.