Highly mutated Covid variant BA.2.86 emerges in multiple countries

LONDON – A highly mutated coronavirus variant has surfaced in four continents – Israel, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States – causing a global concern. 

The cases of the new virus called BA.2.86 are in very small numbers, the reports said, adding that the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have started monitoring the new strain from last week. 

Multiple researcher laboratories across the world are struggling to determine whether it could case a new wave of coronavirus across the world/ 

Some of the researchers are comparing BA.2.86 variant with the Omicron variant which emerged in late 2021 in southern Africa and quickly spread across the globe.

 “There’s a little bit of déjà vu all over again,” Adam Lauring, a virologist and infectious-disease physician at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, was quoted as saying by the international media. 

The WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, has designated BA.2.86 as a variant under monitoring. “Almost certainly there are going to be other cases that will start popping up,” Lauring said.

Meanwhile, the spread of the variant could boost the demand for the anti-coronavirus vaccine.