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Cases of the highly contagious variant, including a subvariant called BA.2, or “stealth omicron,” have caused surges of COVID-19, particularly in areas where safety precautions have been relaxed. “The omicron variant is responsible for the largest surge since 2019,” says Maragakis. “Omicron has a large number of mutations that all appeared at once.

COVID-19: variants Viruses, like SARS-CoV-2, change over time and will continue to change the more they circulate. Sometimes, variants of the virus may develop. A variant is where the virus contains at least one new change to the original virus. Some variants of the coronavirus, such as Delta and Omicron, are spreading more easily between people.

The World Health Organization (WHO) names new coronavirus variants using the letters of the Greek alphabet, starting with the Alpha variant, which emerged in 2020. Below is a list of—and information about—some of the variants that have been top-of-mind. Omicron and BA.2 There’s still a lot to learn about Omicron (BA.1) and its subvariants.

Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified two variants of the virus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as variants of concern. Delta (B.1.617.2). This variant is nearly twice as contagious as earlier variants and might cause more severe illness.

When a virus has one or more new mutations, it’s called a variant of the original virus. Since SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was discovered, there have been hundreds of variants identified and described. The original virus that was discovered in Wuhan has not been seen in the United States since the middle of 2020.

BA.4 and BA.5 are the fastest spreading variants reported to date, and they are expected to dominate Covid-19 transmission in the United States, United Kingdom and the rest of Europe within the...