Variants and Genomic Surveillance | Covid | CDC Some variants will emerge and disappear, while others will emerge and continue to spread and may replace previous variants It is important to track the emergence of variants so that those of interest can be further characterized in the lab to determine if they evade immunity and how they spread
Variants of SARS-CoV-2 - Wikipedia Historically, the WHO regularly listed updates on variants of concern (VOC), which are variants with an increased rate of transmission, virulence, or resistance against mitigations, like vaccines
COVID-19 variants | WHO COVID-19 dashboard - datadot When these changes become significantly different to a previously detected virus, these new virus types are known as “variants ” To identify variants, scientists map the genetic material of viruses (known as sequencing) and then look for differences between them to see if they have changed
SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern as of 24 April 2026 Currently meetings are held once per month to assess the observed or predicted impact of currently circulating and newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants in the EU EEA and globally