The highly mutated variant, called BA.2.86, was first identified in Israel and London on August 13, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Shortly afterwards, Pirola cases were identified in Denmark and America, bringing the total to six, health officials said.
On Friday, the UK Health Security Agency published an “initial risk assessment” of the BA.2.86, or Pirola, stating: “The newly identified variant BA.2.86 has a high number of mutations and is distant from both its likely ancestor BA.2 and also currently circulating XBB-derived variants.”
Pirola is also more highly mutated than another new COVID-19 variant, EG.5 dubbed “Eris,” the PAP news agency reported.
COVID-19 Pirola variant ‘spreading fast’
According to researchers, the BA.2.86 variant is already present in many countries, with infections confirmed in individuals with no recent travel history.
The BA.2.86 cases recorded so far, in many places far apart, are genetically very similar, indicating that Pirola has emerged recently and is spreading fast, health officials have said.
The World Health Organisation has said more research and evidence is necessary for a full risk assessment of BA.2.86, the PAP news agency reported.
According to Francois Balloux, a professor of computational systems biology at University College London, "BA.2.86 is the most striking SARS-CoV-2 strain the world has witnessed since the emergence of Omicron.”
However, the scientist predicted that "even in the worst case scenario where BA.2.86 caused a major new wave of cases,” it is unlikely to result in “comparable levels of severe disease and death than … earlier in the pandemic when the Alpha, Delta or Omicron variants spread.”
Balloux added that most people on Earth are now more immune to COVID-19, having been “vaccinated and/or infected by the virus.”
"Even if people get reinfected by BA.2.86, immune memory will still allow their immune system to kick in and control the infection far more effectively," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, polskieradio24.pl, stronazdrowia, CBS News, gov.uk, ABC
