More than five years have passed since Covid was declared a pandemic, they have faced the regular emergence of SARS-Cov-2, a new variant of the virus.
The latest variant on the rise is Lp.8.1. It is on the rise in Australia, nearly one in five COVID cases in New South Wales.
Elsewhere, it becomes even more dominant, including at least three in five cases, for example in the UK.
So, what is LP.8.1? And is that the cause of concern? Let’s take a look at what we know so far.
Omicron derivatives
LP.8.1 was first detected in July 2024. This is a descendant of JN.1, a sub-variable that was particularly a descendant of KP.1.1.3 and caused major wave infections around the world between late 2023 and early 2024.
The World Health Organization (WHO) designated LP.8.1 as a variant under surveillance in January. This reflects the fact that it is in response to significant growth around the world and that the virus can spread more easily and pose a significant risk to human health.
Specifically, Lp.8.1 has mutations in six locations in the spike protein, a protein that SARS-Cov-2 can attach to cells. One of these mutations, V445R, is thought to be that this variant can spread more easily compared to other circulating variants. V445R has been shown in laboratory studies to increase binding to human lung cells.
In particular, symptoms of LP.8.1 do not appear to be more severe than other circulating strains. The WHO then evaluated the additional public health risk LP.8.1 pose to lower the additional public health risk LP.8.1 pose. Furthermore, Lp.8.1 remains a supervised variant, not a variant of interest or concern.
In other words, these changes in the virus due to Lp.8.1 are small and unlikely to make a significant difference in the pandemic trajectory.
That doesn’t mean that the case won’t rise
Covid as a whole remains a major national and international health concern. So far, nearly 45,000 new cases have been recorded in Australia, but about 260 are now hospitalized with the virus.
As many people no longer test or report infections, the actual number of cases is probably much higher.
In Australia, Lp.8.1 became the third-most dominant stock in NSW (behind XEC and KP.3).
Sign up for the AllAfrica newsletter for free
Get the latest African news
success!
Almost finished…
You need to check your email address.
Follow the instructions in the email you sent to complete the process.
error!
There was a problem processing the submission. Please try again later.
It has grown over the past few months and this trend appears to continue.
This doesn’t mean that other states and territories have not grown as well, but NSW Health publishes weekly breathing monitoring with a breakdown of different covid variants within the state.
The LP.8.1 sequence in the GISAID database was used to track the prevalence of variants worldwide, increasing from around 3% at the end of 2024 in mid-March to 38% of the global sequence.
In some countries, especially climbed. In the US, Lp.8.1 is responsible for 55% of cases. In the UK, where Lp.8.1 is supplemented with at least 60% of cases, scientists fear it will drive a new wave.
Does the Covid vaccine work against Lp.8.1?
Current Covid vaccines, including the recently available JN.1 shot, are expected to provide adequate protection against symptomatic and severe diseases of LP.8.1.
Nevertheless, due to its designation as a variant under surveillance, member countries will continue to study the behavior of the LP.8.1 variant, including their potential to avoid immunity.
At this stage there is no cause of panic due to the LP.8.1 variant, but Covid can still be a severe illness for some people. Continuing vigilance and vaccination, especially in medically vulnerable groups, is essential to minimizing the impact of the disease.
Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology at Western Sydney University
