New Covid variant causing concern among scientists detected in London

The World Health Organisation announced it was designating BA.2.86 a ‘variant under monitoring’. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

A new Covid variant that is causing concern among scientists due to its large number of mutations has been detected in London.

The variant, named BA.2.86, has been detected through genetic sequencing, although only a handful of such sequences have so far been reported. The first was reported in Israel, with the variant since being detected in Denmark and the US.