Canada monitoring new COVID variant BA.2.86 found in at least 4 countries

The World Health Organization said this week it had classified BA.2.86 a "variant under monitoring" due to the "large number of mutations identified."

The Public Health Agency of Canada is tracking a new, highly mutated variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 which has been detected in at least four countries, Health Canada says, but no cases have been detected in Canada so far.

The World Health Organization said this week it had classified BA.2.86 a “variant under monitoring” due to the “large number of mutations identified.” Cases have been identified in the U.S., Denmark, the U.K. and Israel, though fewer than 10 confirmed cases have been reported worldwide as of Friday.

“Public Health Agency of Canada scientists, along with national and international experts, are actively monitoring and evaluating BA.2.86 lineages and their associated studies,” a Health Canada spokesperson told Global News in a statement.

As of Friday, “there have been no detections of the BA.2.86 lineage in Canada,” spokesperson Anna Maddison said.

The WHO characterizes a “variant under monitoring” as one that shows early signs of “growth advantage” compared to more dominant circulating variants that requires further evidence of its potential impact, according to updated guidance released Thursday.

The global health agency said on social media that more data is needed to understand BA.2.86, but added the number of mutations “warrants attention.”

Mutations can allow the SARS-CoV-2 virus to be more transmissible and evade antibodies contained in vaccines, depending on the evolution of the variant.

Countries that have reported cases have all noted that BA.2.86 has mutated enough that it appears “distant” from its likely parents, including the currently-dominant XBB.1.5 variant of Omicron, which itself was much more transmissible and deadly than the original strain of SARS-CoV-2.