Woman wearing face masks to protect against Covid-19 on April 7, 2024 in London, United Kingdom.
Mike Kemp | In Pictures | Getty Images
LONDON – New strains of Covid-19 are spreading around the world, raising concerns among health experts about a possible surge in cases this summer, four and a half years after the pandemic began.
The FLiRT variants – whose name comes from the names of the mutations in the variants' genetic code – are increasing in the US and Europe as the coronavirus continues to mutate from previous strains.
The new grouping is descendants of the previously dominant JN.1 variant, an offshoot of Omicron. There is currently little evidence that the new strains are more serious, but they appear to have independently discovered the same mutations, according to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, KP.2 is now the dominant strain in the U.S. The strain accounted for 28.2% of all cases in the two weeks ending May 11, up from 3.8% in late March, shortly after the strain was first discovered.
Cases of KP.1.1, another FLiRT variant, have also increased, accounting for 7.1% of current infections, the agency said.
Cases are also increasing in Europe, with the new variant now detected in 14 countries.
The World Health Organization said in its latest update earlier this month that cases remained limited in all reporting countries. However, individual countries are recording “slight increases in detections from very low values”.
Last week, Britain's health regulator said it was continuing to monitor data on the new variants in the UK and internationally, assessing their severity and the continued effectiveness of the vaccines. “There are currently no changes to general health recommendations,” the agency said in an update.
It is currently unlikely that the new strains will trigger a large wave of infections like those seen in the past when public immunity was lower, said Jennifer Horney, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Delaware. However, she noted that the new strains would likely lead to a surge in cases in the coming summer months.
“Although our understanding of what a wave of COVID-19 infections looks like has changed over the course of the pandemic, it is likely that these new strains will lead to an increase in the number of cases in the United States over the next few months,” he said Horney told CNBC via email.
“Many will be mild, based on our existing immunity and not the changes in the circulating strain,” she said.
Still, health experts will be closely monitoring how effective current vaccines are against the new strains.
Next month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vaccine Advisory Committee will meet to discuss recommendations for the variant mix for the Covid-19 vaccine this winter. An earlier discussion was postponed to collect more data.
