The lineage is named BA.2.86, and has been detected in the United States, Denmark and Israel, the CDC said in a post on messaging platform X.
"As we learn more about BA.2.86, CDC's advice on protecting yourself from COVID-19 remains the same," the agency said.
The WHO said that, so far, only a few sequences of the variant have been reported from a handful of countries.
The new lineage, which has 36 mutations from the currently-dominant XXB.1.5 COVID variant "harkens back to an earlier branch" of the virus, explained Dr. S. Wesley Long, medical director of diagnostic microbiology at Houston Methodist.
https://slides.com/jbloom/new_2nd_gen_ba2_variant?ftag=YHF4eb9d17#/12The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 is the strain targeted by vaccines in upcoming COVID booster shots.
Persons:
Wesley Long, Jesse Bloom, Fred Hutch, Dr, Long, Shivani Tanna, Himani Sarkar, Simon Cameron, Moore
Organizations:
Science, Trinity College, Reuters, U.S . Centers for Disease Control, CDC, World Health Organization, WHO, Houston Methodist, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Thomson
Locations:
Dublin, Wuhan, United States, Denmark, Israel, Bengaluru