Quite impressive to see how quickly 23I (BA.2.86 including JN.1 - shown here in light blue) has come to dominate globally, even across areas that had slightly different previous mixes of variants. 🌎 (Charts from #CoVariantscovariants.org/per-country) 1/4
Do we know if the lateral flow tests are picking up newer variants? There have been a lot of covid like illnesses going around work that are apparently coming up negative on lat flow, but I am wondering if that's just a bunch of false negatives.
As you might remember, 23I was another significant evolutionary jump (like the initial Omicron was before it), splitting off distinctly from previous Omicron variants. 🔭 (Image labelled from the SARS-CoV-2 @nextstrain Omicron tree) 2/4
Have there been examples anywhere of a past variant reappearing and spreading in decent numbers or always replacement by something antigenically (?epitopically?) distinct?
