Since its emergence, COVID-19 has caused more than 6.9 million deaths globally, with over 768 million confirmed cases

The World Health Organization Wednesday designated the EG.5 Coronavirus strain, presently spreading in the United States and China, as a “variant of interest,” due to its growth advantage and immune escape attributes.

The organization said this particular variant does not seem to present a greater risk to public health when compared to other variants. The variant currently accounts for over 17 percent of cases in the US. It has also been identified in multiple other countries, including China, South Korea, Japan, and Canada.

The WHO noted that EG.5 is descended from the lineage XBB.1.9.2, sharing the same spike amino acid profile as XBB.1.5. The variant was first recorded on February 17, 2023, and was initially categorized as a variant under monitoring (VUM) on July 18, 2023. The global proportion of reported EG.5 cases has been steadily increasing.

Maria Van Kerkhove, an Infectious Disease Epidemiologist and the COVID-19 Technical Lead at the WHO’s Emerging Diseases and Zoonoses division, stated at a press conference that EG.5 displays higher transmissibility but is not more severe than other Omicron sublineages that have been circulating since late 2021.

Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern over the lack of COVID-19 data reporting from numerous countries to the WHO. Only 11 percent of countries had reported hospitalizations and ICU admissions related to the virus, he said.

Since its emergence, COVID-19 has caused more than 6.9 million deaths globally, with over 768 million confirmed cases. The WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic in March 2020 and recently concluded the global emergency status for COVID-19 in May.

The WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Evolution continues to advise member states to prioritize specific actions to address uncertainties surrounding EG.5’s antibody escape and severity.

All viruses, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for COVID-19, undergo changes over time. While most changes have minimal impact on the virus’s properties, some alterations can affect its transmissibility, disease severity, vaccine efficacy, and public health measures.

In response, the WHO established the Virus Evolution Working Group in June 2020 to focus on SARS-CoV-2 variants and their effects. This later evolved into the Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution. The emergence of variants with increased global health risks led the WHO to classify some as variants of interest (VOIs) and variants of concern (VOCs) in order to prioritize monitoring, research, and response adjustments.

As of May 2021, the WHO adopted simple labels for key variants to enhance communication. The WHO noted significant progress in establishing a global system to detect potential VOIs or VOCs and to assess the risks posed by SARS-CoV-2 variants to public health.

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