The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US health authorities are closely monitoring a new variant of the Covid-19 virus, BA.2.86, but "the potential impact of its numerous mutations is unknown for now", they announced on Friday.
The new variant will be classified "in the category of variants under surveillance due to the very large number of mutations (more than 30) in the Spike gene that it carries," the WHO said in its epidemiological bulletin on the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is this Spike protein that gives the SARS-CoV-2 virus its spiky appearance and enables it to penetrate host cells.
So far, this new variant has only been detected in Israel, Denmark and the United States. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring the variant, it announced on social media.
At present, only four known sequences of this variant have been reported, with no known associated epidemiological link, explained the WHO.
"The potential impact of the BA.2.86 mutations is currently unknown and is being carefully assessed," it said, reiterating the importance of continuing to monitor, sequence and notify the relevant authorities in order to obtain an accurate and comprehensive picture of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The WHO is currently tracking three variants of interest (XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16 and EG.5) and seven variants are classified under surveillance (BA.2.75, BA.2.86, CH.1.1, XBB, XBB.1.9.1, XBB.1.9.2 and XBB.2.3).
While the WHO no longer considers Covid-19 illnesses to be a global health emergency since the beginning of May, "the virus continues to circulate in all countries, continues to kill and continues to change," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed last week.
