scientific evidence of the variant not having concerning properties. as of 26 may 2022 pango lineagegisaid cladenextstrain cladeearliest samplesdate of vumdate of designation country of sampling av.1gr2021-032021-05-262021-07-21 uk at.1gr2021-012021-06-092021-07-21 russia r.1gr2021-012021-04-072021-11-09 japan b.1.466.2gh2020-112021-04-282021-11-09 indonesia b.1.1.519gr20b/s.732a2020-112021-06-022021-11-09 multiple countries c.36.3gr2021-012021-06-162021-11-09 multiple countries b.1.214.2g2020-112021-06-302021-11-09 multiple countries b.1.1.523gr2020-052021-07-142021-11-09 multiple countries b.1.619g2020-052021-07-142021-11-09 multiple countries b.1.620g20a/s.126a2020-112021-07-142021-11-09 lithuania b.1.1.318 az.5 gr2021-012021-06-02 england c.1.2gr2021-052021-09-01 south africa b.1.630 gh 2021-03 2021-10-12 dominican republic b.1.640 gh/490r 2021-09 2021-11-22 republic of congo xd 2022-01 2022-03-09 france other notable variants lineage b.1.1.207 was first sequenced in august 2020 in nigeria; the implications for transmission and virulence are unclear but it has been listed as an emerging variant by the us centers for disease control. sequenced by the african centre of excellence for genomics of infectious diseases in nigeria, this variant has a p681h mutation, shared in common with the alpha variant. it shares no other mutations with the alpha variant and as of late december 2020 this variant accounts for around 1% of viral genomes sequenced in nigeria, though this may rise. as of may 2021, lineage b.1.1.207 has been detected in 10 countries. lineage b.1.1.317, while not considered a variant of concern, is noteworthy in that queensland health forced 2 people undertaking hotel quarantine in brisbane, australia to undergo an additional 5 days' quarantine on top of the mandatory 14 days after it was confirmed they were infected with this variant. lineage b.1.616, being identified in brittany, western france in early january 2021 and designated by who as "variant under investigation" in march 2021, was reported to be difficult to detect from nasopharyngeal swab sampling method of coronavirus detection, and detection of the virus needs to rely on samples from lower respiratory tract. lineage b.1.618 was first isolated in october 2020. it has the e484k mutation in common with several other variants, and showed significant spread in april 2021 in west bengal, india. as of 23 april 2021, the pangolin database showed 135 sequences detected in india, with single-figure numbers in each of eight other countries worldwide. in july 2021, scientists reported in a preprint which was published in a journal in february 2022, the detection of anomalous unnamed unknown-host sars-cov-2 lineages via wastewater surveillance in new york city. they hypothesized that "these lineages are derived from unsampled human covid-19 infections or that they indicate the presence of a non-human animal reservoir". lineage b.1.640.2 (also known as the ihu variant) was detected in october 2021 by researchers at the institut hospitalo-universitaire (ihu) in marseille. they found the variant in a traveler who returned to france from cameroon and reportedly infected 12 people. the b.1.640 lineage, which includes b.1.640.2, was designated a variant under monitoring (vum) by the world health organization (who) on 22 november 2021. however, the who has reported that lineage b.1.640.2 has spread much slower than the omicron variant, and so is of relatively little concern. according to a preprint study, lineage b.1.640.2 has two already known spike protein mutations – e484k and n501y – among a total of 46 nucleotide substitutions and 37 deletions. in march 2022, researchers reported sars-cov-2 variant recombinant viruses that contain elements of delta and omicron – deltacron (also called "deltamicron"). recombination occurs when a virus combines parts from a related virus with its genetic sequence as it assembles copies of itself. it is unclear whether deltacron – which is not to be confused with "deltacron" reported in january albeit the first detection was also in january – will be able to compete with omicron and whether that would be detrimental to health. notable missense mutations there have been a number of missense mutations observed of sars-cov-2. del 69-70 the name of the mutation, del 69-70, or 69-70 del, or other similar notations, refers to the deletion of amino acid at position 69 to 70. the mutation is found in the alpha variant, and could lead to "spike gene target failure" and result in false negative result in pcr virus test. rsyltpgd246-253n otherwise referred to as del 246-252, or other various similar expression, refer to the deletion of amino acid from the position of 246 to 252, in the n-terminal domain of spike protein, accompanied with a replacement of the aspartic acid (d) at the position 253 for asparagine (n). the 7 amino acid deletion mutation is currently described as unique in the lambda variant, and have been attributed to as one of the cause of the strain's increased capability to escape from neutralizing antibodies according to preprint paper. n440k the name of the mutation, n440k, refers to an exchange whereby the asparagine (n) is replaced by lysine (k) at position 440. this mutation has been observed in cell cultures to be 10 times more infective compared to the previously widespread a2a strain (a97v substitution in rdrp sequence) and 1000 times more in the lesser widespread a3i strain (d614g substitution in spike and a and p323l substitution in rdrp). it was involved in rapid surges of covid-19 cases in india in may 2021. india has the largest proportion of n440k mutated variants followed by the us and germany. g446v the name of the mutation, g446v, refers to an exchange whereby the glycine (g) is replaced by valine (v) at position 446. the mutation, identified in japan among inbound travelers starting from may, and among 33 samples from individuals related to 2020 tokyo olympic games and 2020 tokyo paralympic games, are said to be possible to impact affinity of multiple monoclonal antibody, although its clinical impact against the use of antibody medicine is still yet to be known. l452r the name of the mutation, l452r, refers to an exchange whereby the leucine (l) is replaced by arginine (r) at position 452. l452r is found in both the delta and kappa variants which first circulated in india, but have since spread around the world. l452r is a relevant mutation in this strain that enhances ace2 receptor binding ability and can reduce vaccine-stimulated antibodies from attaching to this altered spike protein. l452r, some studies show, could even make the coronavirus resistant to t cells, that are necessary to target and destroy virus-infected cells. they are different from antibodies that are useful in blocking coronavirus particles and preventing it from proliferating. y453f the name of the mutation, y453f, refers to an exchange whereby the tyrosine (y) is replaced by phenylalanine (f) at position 453. the mutation have been found potentially linked to the spread of sars-cov-2 among minks in the netherlands in 2020. s477g/n a highly flexible region in the receptor binding domain (rbd) of sars-cov-2, starting from residue 475 and continuing up to residue 485, was identified using bioinformatics and statistical methods in several studies. the university of graz and the biotech company innophore have shown in a recent publication that structurally, the position s477 shows the highest flexibility among them. at the same time, s477 is hitherto the most frequently exchanged amino acid residue in the rbds of sars-cov-2 mutants. by using molecular dynamics simulations of rbd during the binding process to hace2, it has been shown that both s477g and s477n strengthen the binding of the sars-cov-2 spike with the hace2 receptor. the vaccine developer biontech referenced this amino acid exchange as relevant regarding future vaccine design in a preprint published in february 2021. e484q the name of the mutation, e484q, refers to an exchange whereby the glutamic acid (e) is replaced by glutamine (q) at position 484. the kappa variant circulating in india has e484q. these variants were initially (but misleadingly) referred to as a "double mutant". e484q may enhance ace2 receptor binding ability, and may reduce vaccine-stimulated antibodies' ability to attach to this altered spike protein. e484k the name of the mutation, e484k, refers to an exchange whereby the glutamic acid (e) is replaced by lysine (k) at position 484. it is nicknamed "eeek". e484k has been reported to be an escape mutation (i.e., a mutation that improves a virus's ability to evade the host's immune system) from at least one form of monoclonal antibody against sars-cov-2, indicating there may be a "possible change in antigenicity". the gamma variant (lineage p.1), the zeta variant (lineage p.2, also known as lineage b.1.1.28.2) and the beta variant (501.v2) exhibit this mutation. a limited number of lineage b.1.1.7 genomes with e484k mutation have also been detected. monoclonal and serum-derived antibodies are reported to be from 10 to 60 times less effective in neutralising virus bearing the e484k mutation. on 2 february 2021, medical scientists in the united kingdom reported the detection of e484k in 11 samples (out of 214,000 samples), a mutation that may compromise current vaccine effectiveness. f490s f490s denotes a change from phenylalanine (f) to serine (s) in amino-acid position 490. it is one of the mutation found in lambda, and have been associated with reduced susceptibility to antibody generated by those who were infected with other strains, meaning antibody treatment against people infected with strains carrying such mutation would be less effective. n501y n501y denotes a change from asparagine (n) to tyrosine (y) in amino-acid position 501. n501y has been nicknamed "nelly". this change is believed by phe to increase binding affinity because of its position inside the spike glycoprotein's receptor-binding domain, which binds ace2 in human cells; data also support the hypothesis of increased binding affinity from this change. molecular interaction modelling and the free energy of binding calculations has demonstrated that the mutation n501y has the highest binding affinity in variants of concern rbd to hace2. variants with n501y include gamma, alpha (voc 20dec-01), beta, and coh.20g/501y (identified in columbus, ohio). this last became the dominant form of the virus in columbus in late december 2020 and january and appears to have evolved independently of other variants. n501s n501s denotes a change from asparagine (n) to serine (s) in amino-acid position 501. as of september 2021, there are 8 cases of patients around the world infected with delta variant which feature this n501s mutation. as it is considered a mutation similar to n501y, it is suspected to have similar characteristics as n501y mutation, which is believed to increase the infectivity of the virus, however the exact effect is unknown yet. d614g prevalence of mutation d614g across all reported gisaid strains during the course of 2020. convergence with unity closely matches the upper limb of the logistics curve. d614g is a missense mutation that affects the spike protein of sars-cov-2. from early appearances in eastern china early in 2020, the frequency of this mutation in the global viral population increased early on during the pandemic. g (glycine) quickly replaced d (aspartic acid) at position 614 in europe, though more slowly in china and the rest of east asia, supporting the hypothesis that g increased the transmission rate, which is consistent with higher viral titres and infectivity in vitro. researchers with the pangolin tool nicknamed this mutation "doug". in july 2020, it was reported that the more infectious d614g sars-cov-2 variant had become the dominant form in the pandemic. phe confirmed that the d614g mutation had a "moderate effect on transmissibility" and was being tracked internationally. the global prevalence of d614g correlates with the prevalence of loss of smell (anosmia) as a symptom of covid-19, possibly mediated by higher binding of the rbd to the ace2 receptor or higher protein stability and hence higher infectivity of the olfactory epithelium. variants containing the d614g mutation are found in the g clade by gisaid and the b.1 clade by the pangolin tool. q677p/h the name of the mutation, q677p/h, refers to an exchange whereby the glutamine (q) is replaced by proline (p) or histidine (h) at position 677. there are several sub-lineages containing the q677p mutation; six of these, which also contain various different combinations of other mutations, are referred to by names of birds. one of the earlier ones noticed for example is known as "pelican," while the most common of these as of early 2021 was provisionally named "robin 1." the mutation has been reported in multiple lineages circulating inside the united states as of late 2020 and also some lineages outside the country. 'pelican' was first detected in oregon, and as of early 2021 'robin 1' was found often in the midwestern united states, while another q667h sub-lineage, 'robin 2', was found mostly in the southeastern united states. the frequency