The World Health Organization announces a new system of naming the COVID-19 variants using the Greek alphabet in order to avoid stigmatizing countries where variants are first detected. According to the new system, B.1.1.7 becomes Alpha, B.1.351 becomes Beta, and P.1 becomes Gamma. Meanwhile B.1.617, which split into sub-lineage B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2, is called Kappa and Delta respectively. 2021-05-31
Vietnam discovers a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that combines the mutations from Lineage B.1.617 and Lineage B.1.1.7. 2021-05-29
Florida has reported more than 10,000 cases of the Lineage B.1.1.7, Lineage P.1, and Lineage B.1.351 variants since spring break. 2021-05-9
The Caribbean Public Health Agency reports the presence of B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2 in Barbados. 2021-01-26
Health authorities impose tougher lockdowns in Oslo and nine neighbouring municipalities due to an increase in cases of a more contagious variant from the UK that also caused two deaths in care home residents yesterday. 2021-01-23
Vaccine developer Pfizer announces that lab studies have concluded that the joint Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine remains effective against mutation variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including Variant of Concern 202012-01 and the 501.V2 variant. 2021-01-8
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports their first case of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2. The patient is a 23-year-old woman who travelled from the United Kingdom to Shanghai on December 14 and later tested positive for COVID-19. 2020-12-31