US CDC tracks down new lineage of virus that causes Covid

The World Health Organization (WHO) had earlier said in a post on X on Thursday that it had classified Ba.2.86 as a “variant under surveillance” because of the large number of mutations.

The WHO said that, so far, only a few sequences of the variant have been reported from a handful of countries.

Wesley Long, medical director of diagnostic microbiology at Houston Methodist, explained that the new lineage, which has 36 mutations from the currently dominant XBB.1.5 Covid variant, “points to a previous branch” of the virus.

Spread the love

We may earn a commission if you click on the links within this article. Learn more.