HQ Team
August 21, 2023: The UK reported its first variant of COVID-19 virus, BA.2.86, three days ago, which suggests “a degree of community transmission” within the country as the patient had no travel history, according to a government health agency.
“The UK Health Security Agency published an initial risk assessment of the SARS-CoV-2 variant BA.2.86. It has been designated as V-23AUG-01 for the purpose of UKHSA monitoring,” according to a statement.
The BA.2.86 mutation was first detected in Denmark on 24 July and has also been discovered in Israel and the US. It comes after a variant known as EG.5.1 was reported to be making up one in seven new cases in the UK.
“The newly identified variant has a high number of mutations and is genomically distant from both its likely ancestor, BA.2, and from currently circulating XBB-derived variants.
No travel history
“There is currently one confirmed case in the UK in an individual with no recent travel history, which suggests a degree of community transmission within the UK. Identifying the extent of this transmission will require further investigation.”
There is currently insufficient data to assess the relative severity or degree of immune escape compared to other currently circulating variants, according to the statement.
V-23AUG-01 was designated as a variant on 18 August 2023 on the basis of international transmission and significant mutation of the viral genome. This designation allows us to monitor it through our routine surveillance processes.
“We are aware of one confirmed case in the UK. UKHSA is currently undertaking a detailed assessment and will provide further information soon,” said Dr Meera Chand, Deputy Director, UKHSA.
‘Global threat’
UKHSA will continue to monitor the situation closely and publish our analysis results when they are available, she said.
On August 18, the US national health agency, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and the WHO stated that they were tracking BA.2.86.
Although COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, it remains a global health threat, WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the inagural meet of G20 Health Ministers meet in India.
“Just yesterday, WHO classified a new variant with a large number of mutations, BA.2.86, as a variant under monitoring, highlighting once again the need for all countries to maintain surveillance,” he told delegates on August 19.
“This is also why we are continuing the ACT Accelerator, and why we continue to seek the support of G20 countries for it. COVID-19 has taught us all an important lesson: that when health is at risk, everything is at risk.
“There are encouraging signs that the world is learning the painful lessons of the pandemic.”
