In a statement issued on Friday, August 18, 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) and health authorities in the United States announced their focused attention on a new variant of Covid-19, named BA.2.86.

Although its potential impact is still unknown, the strain has been identified in the United States, Denmark, and Israel, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Detection (CDC) on the X platform.

The CDC has emphasized that as more information about BA.2.86 is obtained, the advice to protect oneself from Covid-19 remains unchanged. The WHO, on the other hand, has classified this variant as "under monitoring," given the significant number of mutations it presents.

Even though many countries had dismantled their specific surveillance systems for Covid-19 and its variants due to a perception of decreasing threat, the emergence of the BA.2.86 variant has raised new concerns.

Although the WHO stopped considering the pandemic a global health emergency in May, their recent warning underscores that the virus remains active worldwide, capable of change, and continuing its lethal impact.