The Emerging Concern and Interest SARS-CoV-2 Variants

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was discovered in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Since that time, the virus has spread around the world, which resulted in an announcement of the World Health Organization (WHO), dated in March 2020, that COVID-19 was a worldwide pandemic, and since then, the world has been struggling with this disease. SARS-CoV-2, similar to other RNA viruses, continually mutates, and new variants are appearing. Among large numbers of detected SARS-CoV-2 variants, only an insignificant amount of them are able to pose a risk to public health, as they are more contagious and cause more severe conditions. The emerged variants were classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with SARS-CoV-2 Interagency Group (SIG) according to strictly defined pattern. Variants were classified as variants of concern, variants of interest, and variants of high consequence. In the last few months, three variants of concern (B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1) and four variants of interests (B.1.526, B.1.525, B.1.427/B.1.429, and P.2) were distinguished and are essential for close monitoring. This analysis summarizes the principal information concerning SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as their infectivity, severity, mutations, and immune susceptibility.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; mutations; variants.

Figure 1

Current localization of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and their brief characteristics.