The UK Health and Safety Agency (UKHSA) agency said in a statement yesterday: "This variant was detected in the UK on Friday 18 August and has also been seen in Israel, Denmark and the USA. UKHSA has named the variant V-23AUG-01 for monitoring purposes. The newly identified variant has a high number of mutations and is genomically distant from both its probable ancestor BA.2 and the XBB-derived variants currently in circulation." The authorities stated that the variant was identified in a person who had not travelled and that the case would be followed up and analysed.
The World Health Organization (WHO) made a statement on the new variant on 17 August, saying, "WHO has today designated the COVID-19 variant BA.2.86 as a 'variant under watch' due to the large number of mutations it carries.
