Maybe one day the whole history of the variant community deserves to be told , how a group of citizens, 100% normal, ok 99% normal people from completely backgrounds and from the four angles of the world joined together to track a virus taught by the best and most kind scientists In the world. Today here is rainy and we face difficulties and it is not that day, but let me say to Josette,Shay,Gian, Ryan,Saka , Nick, Sam, Dave, Andrew and all the ones who joined then and the ones who left, i m nothing without you , you are my sista and bros.

@LongDesertTrain Lp.8.1 has also 346T and i think it is back again in the game with the combination of the mutations in LP.8.1! (x layman: 346T was suffering since S:n450D is one of the defining of ALL BA.2.86 descendants and it did even worse when 493E appeared 346 450 493 are close in RBD 1/ @LongDesertTrain @LongDesertTrain many months ago noticed that 445R and 346T worked better than expected in a lineage then designated MK.3 , @xz_keg very early noticed that 31del emerged first within 346T lineages and noted also that 190S and 31del worked well together.
So my idea is: /2

Variant update: we are likely entering quite fastly in a new JN.1 era that will likely be dominated by lineages carrying up to 5 spike mutations (as of today) from JN.1 , mainly carrying at least a combo of the highly convergent trio of Spike mutations 346T 456L 572I , especially when arising from already fast lineages as JN.1.4 JN.1.7 and JN.1.11.1, but maybe also JN.1.13,JN.1.16 JN.1.18

Japan, too, emphasizes that the annexation of occupied territory is unlawful, referring to Article 2 (4) of the United Nations Charter: “As the ICJ clarified in the Wall Advisory Opinion, the illegality of the acquisition of territory by force is a corollary of the prohibition of use of force incorporated in the UN Charter”, which Japan calls “the most fundamental rule of the post-war regime for peace based on the rule of law among nations”

Late night in Europe but variant community is not asleep! A lot of designation made by the awesome @CorneliusRoemer , he does alone half of the global work on variants! @redbull you should sponsor him for life!
A lot of new things around got designated tonight:
3d >>> and kudos to @wolfeagle1989: he is updating in real time #Collection42 so you can check all of them if fast or not.
Remember: any variant itself is not a reason to panic and our work is useful to design vaccine treatments and to inform timely the public health agencies

12/ a big kudos to women/men in the labs and behind genomic tools as Pango Usher Nextclade Covspectrum,Collections (@and to workers in Gisaid and all variant spotters community and variant naming group.dre 2/ without bothering you with stats the main fact is China is uploading a lot and very quickly after sampling while the UK/Den bulk of sequences was largely reduced

While BA.5.2 lost the world but took China and while XBB.1.5 is fastly arising there are many countries with unique variants dominating/leading there:
1 Philippines BA.2.3.20
2 New Zealand CH.1.1
3 Russia CL.1
4 Australia XBF BR.2.1
5 India XBB
6 South Korea BN.1.3
7 Japan BF.5 8 Singapore XBB.1*
9 Hong Kong CH.1.1

this to say that nothing is certain, be dubious always never stop searching.

Update on China: nothing new, just confirmation that
BA.5.2* made it to be the main driver of the ongoing wave.
There are two main lineages 1)BF.7+Orf7a:H47Y+S:C1243F
2) BA.5.2+t17208C with 4 sublineages:
a) N:Q241K
b) Orf1a:T1788M
c) Orf1b:T2432I
d) S:A570S

1/cont

https://twitter.com/siamosolocani/status/1607875802246574080

..then much smaller
3) BA.5.2+S:T883I + Orf1b:S997P
and really small
4) BA.5.1 + N:S79I + N:A273S

2/cont

Little update on variants circulating in China.
First a big thanks to all scientists in ML China and in other countries doing the sequencing lab.
Second thx to other variant hunters as Silcn, who working alone without any support found the main two variants circulating there 1/ 2/ (and he already done it with BA.4,BA.5/BA.2.75 )

All the contents of this 3d are from the @PangoNetwork
github page: github.com/cov-lineages/p… and another big thx to people still running this as @CorneliusRoemer @PeacockFlu @AngieSHinrichs and InfrPopgen

Wild Type:
Wuhan - Gennaio 2020
Lodi- Febbraio 2020
Bergamo- Marzo 2020
Madrid - Marzo 2020
New York Aprile 2020
Brasile estate 2020
Florida estate 2020
Europa autunno 2020
Beta
Sudafrica Dicembre 2020
Alpha
Uk Gennaio 2021
Gamma
Amazzonia Gennaio 2021 Delta
India febbraio-aprile 2021
Russia-Est Europa estate 2021
Usa estate 2021
Germania autunno 2021
Omicron BA.1
World Gennaio 2022
Omicron BA.2
Denmark, India Gennaio 2022
Hong Kong Marzo 2022
BA.2.3
South Korea Marzo 2022

A short 3d on BQ.1.1

Real name: B.1.1.529.5.3.1.1.1.1.1.1.

It sums history of SC2 variant hunting .

I would like to walk back this history with you if interested: B.1 and B.1.1 are the first wave dominant strains ,
they got the lead in Italy then in Europe (Except Spain that had a A driven first wave) and then worlwide.
I think they have been first identified and designated by @PangoNetwork Team Core @arambaut, @AineToole @EvolveDotZoo

For public and scientists getting lost in new Omicrons
we have now released a very easy collection on @GenSpectrum (thx @ChaoranChen_ ) to track the fastest designated lineages.
This is possible just thx to nextclade team and @CorneliusRoemer

cov-spectrum.org/collections/24
vs BA.5* @jbloom_lab @TWenseleers @SolidEvidence @PeacockFlu @T_Brautigan @jason_u_presume @Rajeev_The_King @vinodscaria @r_karyakarte @firefoxx66 @bani_jolly @SimonLoriereLab @DrSnOU @mildanalyst @FabrizioChiodo @AnnDePa @tonini_stef @gianlucac1

Briefly.
variant update:
BA.2.75 is acquiring new spike mutations and with them it will likely become dominant.
Unclear if BH.1&BJ.1 could compete or not.
The baseline (i mean for that most transmissible among the most sequenced lineages) is still BA.5.2 + Orf1b:1050N.
1/ 2/ Between BA.2.75s and BA.5.2+ Orf1b:1050N there are just lineages with 346, 357 or 444 or 450 mutated.
plus BA.5.10
plus one pending ba.5.2.1+S:248H (and a recomb ba.5/ba.2.76 too small to say)
plus a few with no spike mutations (I would watch a couple with Orf1b:662 mutated)