https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/variants-concern
SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern as of 16 February 2024
Variant classification serves as an important communication tool for alerting EU/EEA countries about the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants with concerning properties likely to impact the epidemiological situation in the EU/EEA.
ECDC utilises three categories of variant classification to communicate increasing levels of concern about a new or emerging SARS-CoV-2 variant: variant under monitoring (VUM), variant of interest (VOI) and variant of concern (VOC). Classification criteria and recommended Member state actions are available here:
ECDC variant classification criteria and recommended Member State actions
New evidence is regularly assessed on variants detected through epidemic intelligence, genomic horizon scanning, or other scientific sources. If a decision is made to add, remove, or change the category for any variant, the tables are updated to reflect this change. The tables are regularly sent for consultation to ECDC and WHO Regional Office for Europe’s joint virus characterisation working group.
Variant surveillance data, including the distribution of VOC and VOI variant proportions in the EU/EEA, is presented as part of the European Respiratory Virus Surveillance Summary (ERVISS)(link is external).
Useful links
To review a timeline of variant classification decisions, visit our change log.
Following classification of a VOC or VOI, multiple closely related sub-lineages may emerge. To facilitate reporting of variant detections by countries to TESSy, a table listing sub-lineages assigned to VOCs and VOIs as of 2 February 2024 is available here.
An additional table that includes sub-lineages assigned to VUMs as of 2 February 2024 is available here.
Description of the tables
The tables include:
Category: variant of concern (VOC), variant of interest (VOI), or variant under monitoring (VUM).
- WHO label: As of 31st May 2021, WHO proposed labels for global SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and variants of interest(link is external) to be used alongside the scientific nomenclature in communications about variants to the public. This list includes variants on WHO’s global list of VOC and VOI, and is updated as WHO’s list changes.
- Lineage and additional mutations: the variant designation specified by one or more Pango lineages and any additional characteristic spike protein changes. An alternate description may be used if the variant is not easy to describe using this nomenclature. For updated information on Pango lineages and definition of lineages and for instructions on how to suggest new lineages, visit the Pango lineages website(link is external). Each lineage in then table is linked to the respective lineage page on the Pango lineages website.
- Country first detected: only present if there is moderate confidence in the evidence relating to the first country of detection.
- Spike mutations of interest: not all spike protein amino acid changes are included – this is not a full reference for assignment of the variants. It includes changes to spike protein residues 319-541 (receptor binding domain) and 613-705 (the S1 part of the S1/S2 junction and a small stretch on the S2 side), and any additional unusual changes specific to the variant.
- Year and month first detected: as reported in the GISAID EpiCoV database. This can be adjusted backwards in time if new retrospective detections are made.
- Evidence concerning properties in three different categories:
- Transmissibility
- Immunity
- Infection severity
Each category is annotated as increased, reduced, similar, unclear, or no evidence depending on the currently available evidence. Increased or reduced means that there is evidence demonstrating that the property is different enough for the variant compared to previously circulating variants that it is likely to have an impact on the epidemiological situation in the EU/EEA. Similar means that there is evidence that demonstrates that the property is not different enough for this variant compared to previously circulating variants that it is unlikely to have an impact. Unclear means that the current evidence is preliminary or contradictory enough to make the assessment uncertain. No evidence means that no evidence has yet been evaluated for this category. The evidence is further annotated with v or m to indicate whether the evidence is available for the variant itself (v) or for mutations associated with the variant (m).
- Transmission in the EU/EEA: categorised as dominant, community, outbreak(s), and sporadic/travel. The categories are qualitative, and the assessment is based on surveillance data collected in TESSy, GISAID EpiCoV data, epidemic intelligence data, and direct communications with the affected countries.
Variants of Concern (VOC)
As of 3 March 2023, ECDC has de-escalated BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 from its list of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC), as these parental lineages are no longer circulating. ECDC will continue to categorise and report on specific SARS-CoV-2 sub-lineages in circulation that are relevant to the epidemiological situation.
There are currently no SARS-CoV-2 variants meeting the VOC criteria.
Variants of Interest (VOI)
| WHO label | Lineage + additional mutations | Country first detected (community) | Spike mutations of interest | Year and month first detected | Impact on transmissibility | Impact on immunity | Impact on severity | Transmission in EU/EEA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omicron | XBB.1.5-like (a) | United States | N460K, S486P, F490S | n/a | Similar to Baseline (1, 2) | Reduced (v) (1, 3) | Similar to Baseline (4) | Community |
| Omicron | XBB.1.5-like + F456L (b) (e.g. EG.5, FL.1.5.1, XBB.1.16.6, and FE.1) | n/a | F456L, N460K, S486P, F490S | n/a | Baseline | Baseline (5) | Baseline | Community |
| Omicron | BA.2.86 | n/a | I332V, D339H, R403K, V445H, G446S, N450D, L452W, N481K, 483del, E484K, F486P | n/a | Unclear (6) | Unclear (6-8) | No evidence | Dominant |
a: Monitoring an umbrella of SARS-CoV-2 lineages that have similar Spike protein profiles and characterised by a specific set of mutations (S:Q183E, S:F486P and S:F490S). For the full list of lineages, please look at the table here.
b: Monitoring an umbrella of SARS-CoV-2 lineages that have similar Spike protein profiles and characterised by a specific set of mutations (S:F456L, S:Q183E, S:F486P and S:F490S). For the full list of lineages, please look at the table here.
All sub-lineages of the listed lineages are also included in the variant
Variants under monitoring
| WHO label | Lineage + additional mutations | Country first detected (community) | Spike mutations of interest | Year and month first detected | Impact on transmissibility | Impact on immunity | Impact on severity | Transmission in EU/EEA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omicron | XBB.1.5(link is external)-like + L455F + F456L | n/a | L455F, F456L, N460K, S486P, F490S | n/a | No evidence | No evidence | No evidence | Detected |
| Omicron | BA.2.87.1 | South Africa | G75D,S98F,V126A,W152L,R190S,K417T,K444N,V445G,L452M,N481K,V642G,K679R,S691P,T791I,Y796H,D936G (b) | 2023 September | No evidence | No evidence | No evidence | Not Detected |
n/a: not applicable
b: Preliminary mutations based on a limited number of genomes
De-escalated variants
These additional variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been de-escalated based on at least one the following criteria: (1) the variant is no longer circulating, (2) the variant has been circulating for a long time without any impact on the overall epidemiological situation, (3) scientific evid....
