Covid-19: New “Pirola” variant BA.2.86 continues to spread in UK and US

The new BA.2.86 variant of SARS-CoV-2—nicknamed “Pirola”—is now likely to be spreading in the community in the UK, the government has said after an outbreak was reported at a care home.The variant, which contains many mutations to the spike gene and was first detected in Denmark in late July,1 has been identified in several countries including Canada, Israel, Portugal, South Africa, and Sweden, as well as the UK and the US.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) had detected 34 cases in England to 4 September, of which five people were admitted to hospital.2 Notably, 28 cases were from a single outbreak in a Norfolk care home. The UKHSA has said that there is currently “not enough evidence to know if the variant has altered clinical severity or will predominate in the UK.”In the US the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had reported cases of the variant in nine…
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