Here's the latest variant picture with a global scope, to mid-August.



XFG.\* "Stratus" variants rebounded to challenge NB.1.8.1 "Nimbus". 



On this thread I’ll give an update on the progress of the most interesting new lineages.



A further 33 samples of Stratus sub-lineage TK.1 (featuring the novel Spike K679N mutation) were reported during the week, with more from Ghana, Spain and elsewhere in western Europe.  This seems the most successful new lineage, based on the available data, with a rapid geographical distribution.



Saltation variant PJ.2.1 has been reported in a few more places beyond the initial burst in Ontario and New York. In recent weeks, samples have been added from California, Singapore and Catalunya, Spain.  The volume is still quite low: 1-2% of the global sample volume.



Since those initial batches of PJ.2.1 samples were shared, only a further 50-odd samples from Ontario and 25-odd from New York have been shared. So PJ.2.1 is possibly still spreading in those places, undetected. 



Further samples of Nimbus sub-lineage RK.1.5 have been reported from around the Pacific Rim, with a handful sprinkled around western Europe.  But it doesn’t seem headed for dominance anywhere, only rising slowly to around 15% of samples in Australia (the presumed origin).



Report link:

[https://mike-honey.github.io/covid-19-genomes/output/Coronavirus%20-%20Genomic%20Sequencing%20-%20report%20Global.pdf](https://mike-honey.github.io/covid-19-genomes/output/Coronavirus%20-%20Genomic%20Sequencing%20-%20report%20Global.pdf) 



SARS-CoV-2 variants - Global