[Times of IS] A new COVID variant detected in Israel is being tracked by health authorities worldwide. The variant, sequenced in Israel and Denmark in late July, has now also appeared in Michigan in the United States.There's an election coming
The World Health Organization SARS-CoV-2 virus evolution advisory group has designated the novel variant, known as BA.2.86, as a variant under monitoring (VUM) due to its many mutations. The US Centers for Disease Control is also monitoring it.
"No one knows about its virulence or how transmissible it is," said Prof. Ronit Calderon-Margalit, director of the School of Public Health at Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical Center.
spike proteins appear in red on the virus model. (AFP/ National Institutes of Health)
A new COVID variant detected in Israel is being tracked by health authorities worldwide. The variant, sequenced in Israel and Denmark in late July, has now also appeared in Michigan in the United States.
The World Health Organization SARS-CoV-2 virus evolution advisory group has designated the novel variant, known as BA.2.86, as a variant under monitoring (VUM) due to its many mutations. The US Centers for Disease Control is also monitoring it.
"No one knows about its virulence or how transmissible it is," said Prof. Ronit Calderon-Margalit, director of the School of Public Health at Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical Center.
Virologists are closely tracking the variant because it has more than thirty mutations within its spike protein.
"The interest is because it’s so detached from the BA.2 Omicron variant [which drove most COVID cases around the world]. So it’s like a second generation of the BA.2. Supposedly that’s how they see it now," Calderon-Margalit said.