COVID Variants - Take you pick

Here will follow a list of COVID-19 variants "in waiting". If you think to have a vaccination, think again.

Variants of Concern

WHO label Lineage + additional mutations Country first detected (community) Spike mutations of interest Year and month first detected Evidence for impact on transmissibility Evidence for impact on immunity Evidence for impact on severity Transmission in EU/EEA 

Beta

B.1.351 South Africa K417N, E484K, N501Y, D614G, A701V September 2020 Yes (v) (1) Yes (v) (2, 3) Yes (v) (4, 5) Community  

Gamma

P.1 Brazil K417T, E484K, N501Y, D614G, H655Y December 2020 Yes (v) (6) Yes (v) (7) Yes (v) (5) Community  

Delta

B.1.617.2 India L452R, T478K, D614G, P681R December 2020 Yes (v) (8) Yes (v) (9-11) Yes (v) (10, 12) Dominant Omicron B.1.1.529 South Africa and Botswana (x) November 2021 Yes (v) (13) Yes (v) (14) Community

Variants of Interest

For these variants, evidence is available on genomic properties, epidemiological evidence or in-vitro evidence that could imply a significant impact on transmissibility, severity and/or immunity, realistically having an impact on the epidemiological situation in the EU/EEA. However, the evidence is still preliminary or is associated with major uncertainty. In addition, all the criteria for variants under monitoring outlined below apply. WHO label Lineage + additional mutations Country first detected (community) Spike mutations of interest Year and month first detected Evidence for impact on transmissibility Evidence for impact on immunity Evidence for impact on severity Transmission in EU/EEA Mu B.1.621 Colombia R346K, E484K, N501Y, D614G, P681H January 2021 Yes (m) (15) Yes (m) (16)   Sporadic/Travel Lambda C.37 Peru L452Q, F490S, D614G December 2020   Yes (v) (17, 18)   Sporadic/Travel n/a AY.4.2 United Kingdom L452R, T478K, D614G, P681R, A222V, Y145H June 2021 Yes (v) (19) No (v) (19, 20) No (v) (19) Community

Variants under monitoring

These additional variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected as signals through epidemic intelligence, rules-based genomic variant screening, or preliminary scientific evidence. There is some indication that they could have properties similar to those of a VOC, but the evidence is weak or has not yet been assessed by ECDC. Variants listed here must be present in at least one outbreak, detected in a community within the EU/EEA, or there must be evidence that there is community transmission of the variant elsewhere in the world. WHO label Lineage + additional mutations Country first detected (community) Spike mutations of interest Year and month first detected Evidence for impact on transmissibility Evidence for impact on immunity Evidence for impact on severity Transmission in EU/EEA n/a C.36+L452R Egypt L452R, D614G, Q677H December 2020   Yes (m) (21)   Detected (a) n/a B.1.1.318 Unclear (b) E484K, D614G, P681H January 2021   Yes (m) (16)   Detected (a) n/a P.1+P681H Italy D614G, E484K, H655Y, K417T, N501Y, P681H February 2021   Unclear (22, 23)   Detected (a) n/a B.1.617.2 + K417N United Kingdom L452R, T478K, D614G, P681R, K417N June 2021       Detected (a) n/a C.1.2 South Africa D614G, E484K, H655Y, N501Y, N679K, Y449H June 2021 Yes (m) (15) Yes (m) (16)   Detected (a) n/a B.1.617.2 + E484X (d) India L452R, T478K, D614G, P681R, E484X (d) April 2021       Detected (a) n/a B.1.617.2 + Q613H India L452R, T478K, D614G, P681R, Q613H April 2021       Detected (a) n/a B.1.617.2 + Q677H India L452R, T478K, D614G, P681R, Q677H April 2021       Detected (a) n/a B.1.640 The Republic of Congo D614G, F490R, N394S, N501Y, P681H, R346S, Y449N, 137−145del September 2021       Detected (a)

De-escalated variants

These additional variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been de-escalated based on at least one the following criteria: (1) the variant is no longer circulating, (2) the variant has been circulating for a long time without any impact on the overall epidemiological situation, (3) scientific evidence demonstrates that the variant is not associated with any concerning properties. WHO label Lineage + additional mutations Country first detected (community) Spike mutations of interest Year and month first detected Evidence for impact on transmissibility Evidence for impact on immunity Evidence for impact on severity Rationale for de-escalation 

Alpha

B.1.1.7 United Kingdom N501Y, D614G, P681H September 2020 Yes (v) (15) No Yes (v) (5, 24) Drastically reduced circulation in the EU/EEA following the emergence of Delta; little evidence of impact on vaccine induced immunity  

n/a

B.1.1.7+E484K United Kingdom E484K, N501Y, D614G, P681H December 2020 Yes (v) (15) Yes (v) (16, 25) Yes (v) (24) Very low levels of circulation in the EU/EEA Epsilon B.1.427/B.1.429 USA L452R, D614G September 2020 Unclear (21) Yes (v) (21)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA and available data indicating that vaccines and treatments are effective against such variant n/a B.1.616(c) France V483A, D614G, H655Y, G669S February 2021 Detection (c) (26)     Not detected since 2021-04-23 (27) Eta B.1.525 Nigeria E484K, D614G, Q677H December 2020   Yes (m) (16, 28)     No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA Theta P.3 The Philippines E484K, N501Y, D614G, P681H January 2021 Yes (m) (15) Yes (m) (16)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA Kappa B.1.617.1 India L452R, E484Q, D614G, P681R December 2020 Yes (v) (29) Yes (v) (30-33)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a B.1.620 Unclear (b) S477N, E484K, D614G, P681H February 2021   Yes (m) (16, 34)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a B.1.617.3 India L452R, E484Q, D614G, P681R February 2021 Yes (m) [1] Yes (m) (16, 21)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a B.1.214.2 Unclear2 Q414K, N450K, ins214TDR, D614G December 2020       No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a A.23.1+E484K United Kingdom V367F, E484K, Q613H December 2020   Yes (m) (16)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a A.27 Unclear (b) L452R, N501Y, A653V, H655Y December 2020 Yes (m) (15) Yes (m) (21)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a A.28 Unclear (b) E484K, N501T, H655Y December 2020   Yes (m) (16)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a C.16 Unclear (b) L452R, D614G October 2020   Yes (m) (16)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a B.1.351+P384L South Africa P384L, K417N, E484K, N501Y, D614G, A701V December 2020 Yes (v) (1) Yes (v) (2, 3) Unclear (4) No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a B.1.351+E516Q Unclear (b) K417N, E484K, N501Y, E516Q, D614G, A701V January 2021 Yes (v) (1) Yes (v) (2, 3) Unclear (4) No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a B.1.1.7+L452R United Kingdom L452R, N501Y, D614G, P681H January 2021 Yes (v) (15) Yes (m) (21) Yes (v) (24) No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a B.1.1.7+S494P United Kingdom S494P, N501Y, D614G, P681H January 2021 Yes (v) (15) Yes (m) (35) Yes (v) (24) No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA Iota B.1.526 USA  E484K, D614G, A701V December 2020   Yes (m) (16)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a B.1.526.1 USA L452R, D614G October 2020   Yes (m) (21)   Lineage withdrawn from Pango n/a B.1.526.2 USA S477N, D614G December 2020       Lineage withdrawn from Pango Zeta P.2 Brazil E484K, D614G January 2021   Yes (m) (16)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a B.1.1.519 Mexico T478K, D614G November 2020   Yes (m) (21)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a AV.1 United Kingdom N439K, E484K, D614G, P681H March 2021   Yes (m) (16)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA n/a AT.1 Russia E484K, D614G, N679K, ins679GIAL January 2021   Yes (m) (16)   No longer detected or detected at extremely low levels in the EU/EEA