BA.2.86, which has been given the nickname 'Pirola', has only been detected in Denmark, Israel, the UK and the US.
"More data are needed to understand this COVID-19 variant and the extent of its spread," the WHO said."WHO will update countries and the public as we learn more."Francois Balloux, professor of computational systems biology at University College London, agreed that the attention was warranted.
"Over the coming weeks we will see how well BA.2.86 will be faring relative to other Omicron subvariants.""Even in the worst case scenario where BA.2.86 caused a major new wave of cases,than we did earlier in the pandemic when the Alpha, Delta or Omicron variants spread, Dr Balloux said."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."Why has BA.2.
But some scientists have suggested naming variants to make them easier for the wider public to understand. It suggests drawing those names from astronomy — so think constellations, stars, moons, asteroids and exoplanets.
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