Thread by @Mike_Honey_

Here's the latest variant picture with a global scope, to early June.

The NB.1.8.1 "Nimbus" variant has been struggling lately, at around 25%.

Growth of the XFG.* "Stratus" variant accelerated to 28%, and it is now dominant.

#COVID19 #Global #NB_1_8_1 #Nimbus #XFG #Stratus
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The odd-looking bump in the JN.1.* + FLiRT group is down to a relatively large batch of samples collected across 3 days in late May, from Kazakhstan. The LF.7.1.3 sub-variant was dominant.

That will likely be smoothed out as more data arrives from other countries.
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Here are the trends across all the International Traveller samples, with a roughly similar picture. However NB.1.8.1.* was higher at 35-45%.

This dataset (mostly arrivals in the US and Japan) is arguably more random, as it is not skewed by sequencing volumes.
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Globally, the NB.1.8.1 "Nimbus" variant is showing a slowing growth advantage of 3.6% per day (25% per week) over the LP.8.1.* variant, with a crossover in late May.
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Here are the leading countries reporting NB.1.8.1 "Nimbus". There seem to be 3 tracks:
- China, Hong Kong and Thailand are reporting a clean sweep
- Singapore and Australia show steady growth to around 50%
- growth in the US and Canada has only reached around 25%.
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Globally, the XFG.* "Stratus" variant is showing a stronger growth advantage of 6.4% per day (45% per week) over the LP.8.1.* variant. That shows a crossover in early June.
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Here are the leading countries reporting XFG.* "Stratus". It reached 67% in India, before falling to finish at 55%. It has also shown sustained growth to 25-35% in Canada, France, Spain, the UK and US.
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