of such mutation being recorded has increased from late 2020 to early 2021. p681h logarithmic prevalence of p681h in 2020 according to sequences in the gisaid database the name of the mutation, p681h, refers to an exchange whereby the proline (p) is replaced by histidine (h) at position 681. in january 2021, scientists reported in a preprint that the mutation p681h, a characteristic feature of the alpha variant and lineage b.1.1.207 (identified in nigeria), is showing a significant exponential increase in worldwide frequency, thus following a trend to be expected in the lower limb of the logistics curve. this may be compared with the trend of the now globally prevalent d614g. p681r the name of the mutation, p681r, refers to an exchange whereby the proline (p) is replaced by arginine (r) at position 681. indian sars-cov-2 genomics consortium (insacog) found that other than the two mutations e484q and l452r, there is also a third significant mutation, p681r in lineage b.1.617. all three concerning mutations are on the spike protein, the operative part of the coronavirus that binds to receptor cells of the body. a701v according to initial media reports, the malaysian ministry of health announced on 23 december 2020 that it had discovered a mutation in the sars-cov-2 genome which they designated as a701b(sic), among 60 samples collected from the benteng lahad datu cluster in sabah. the mutation was characterised as being similar to the one found recently at that time in south africa, australia, and the netherlands, although it was uncertain if this mutation was more infectious or aggressive than before. the provincial government of sulu in neighbouring philippines temporarily suspended travel to sabah in response to the discovery of 'a701b' due to uncertainty over the nature of the mutation. on 25 december 2020, the malaysian ministry of health described a mutation a701v as circulating and present in 85% of cases (d614g was present in 100% of cases) in malaysia. these reports also referred to samples collected from the benteng lahad datu cluster. the text of the announcement was mirrored verbatim on the facebook page of noor hisham abdullah, malay director-general of health, who was quoted in some of the news articles. the a701v mutation has the amino acid alanine (a) substituted by valine (v) at position 701 in the spike protein. globally, south africa, australia, netherlands and england also reported a701v at about the same time as malaysia. in gisaid, the prevalence of this mutation is found to be about 0.18%. of cases. on 14 april 2021, the malaysian ministry of health reported that the third wave, which had started in sabah, has involved the introduction of variants with d614g and a701v mutations. recombinant variants the british government has reported a number of recombinant variants of sars-cov-2. these recombinant lineages have been given the pango lineage identifiers xd, xe, and xf. xe is a recombinant lineage of pango lineages ba.1 and ba.2. as of march 2022 xe was believed to have a growth rate 9.8% greater than ba.2. differential vaccine effectiveness