US Tracks New Strain of Covid-19

A CDC sign stands at the entrance of the agency's offices in
Atlanta. (AP Photo/Ron Harris, File)
A CDC sign stands at the entrance of the agency's offices in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Ron Harris, File)
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US Tracks New Strain of Covid-19

A CDC sign stands at the entrance of the agency's offices in
Atlanta. (AP Photo/Ron Harris, File)
A CDC sign stands at the entrance of the agency's offices in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Ron Harris, File)

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday that it was tracking a new, highly mutated lineage of the virus that causes COVID-19, Reuters reported.

The lineage is named BA.2.86, and has been detected in the United States, Denmark and Israel, the CDC said in a post on messaging platform X (formerly Twitter).

“As we learn more about BA.2.86, CDC’s advice on protecting yourself from COVID-19 remains the same,” the agency said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier on Thursday said in a post on X that it had classified BA.2.86 as a “variant under monitoring” due to the large number of mutations it carries.