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The BA.2.86 strain, known as Pirola, has now been identified in four states: New York, Michigan, Virginia, and Ohio.
New York became the latest state to report the presence of the variant this week after wastewater samples tested positive for the strain.
"While we have yet to find it in a specimen from a local resident, it is almost certainly circulating here," New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vassan stated on Tuesday, Aug. 29.
Vassan added: "Based on the degree of mutations – while vaccinated people continue to be protected against serious illness – this variant may be more likely to evade immunity that has developed from vaccination or prior infection than earlier variants. But there is currently no indication that it causes more severe illness."
The Michigan case, the first in the US, was an older woman who had recently returned from Japan. She reportedly had mild symptoms.
At a World Health Organization (WHO) news briefing on Friday, Aug. 25, authorities said they consider BA.2.86 to be part of the Omicron variant family, but that could change if the strain spreads more widely even though Pirola's 30 mutations are from the BA.2 lineage, which was the dominant Omicron strain in 2022.
In a Risk Assessment Statement issued on Wednesday, Aug. 23, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said: "The large number of mutations in this variant raises concerns of greater escape from existing immunity from vaccines and previous infections compared with other recent variants.
"For example, one analysis of mutations suggests the difference may be as large as or greater than that between BA.2 (Omicron) and XBB.1.5 (known as Arcturus), which circulated nearly a year apart."
The Pirola strain was first detected in Israel, and cases have also been identified in several other countries, including the US, United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and Portugal.
Currently, a new Omicron subvariant known as Eris, whose official name is EG.5, is accounting for most COVID cases nationwide, according to estimates by the CDC.
Arcturus is also an offshoot of Omicron.
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