KUALA LUMPUR – The new Covid-19 variant, called KP.2, is being reported in other countries after being labelled the current dominant strain in the United States about a week ago.
However, disease control authorities in various countries say the new variant appears to have low transmissibility and lower ability to cause severe disease.
KP.2 is one among a set of more recent virus variants that scientists have now nicknamed “FLiRTs” according to the technical names of their mutations that include the letters making up the word.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that KP.2 cases comprised about 25% of cases in the US for the week of April 14 to 27.
The variant was detected in wastewater surveillance, it added.
While KP.2 is the dominant variant in the US, laboratory testing showed low levels of Covid-19 transmissions overall, and the variant is not causing an increase of infections, the CDC also said.
China, meanwhile, has reported the variant is present in 0.05% to 0.3% of all locally sequenced cases reported each week, its National Disease Control and Prevention Administration said two days ago.
This puts KP.2 at an “extremely low” level, it added.
The state of Maharashtra in India recently reported 91 new Covid-19 cases of the KP.2 variant, following earlier records of the first cases involving the strain in other parts of the country in January.
Thailand, meanwhile, reported 1,880 infections involving KP.2 between May 5 and 11, according to its Department of Disease Control.
In Taiwan, Centres for Disease Control spokesperson Tsang Shu-hui has said KP.2 is 1.2 times more infectious than the JN.1 variant but has a lower ability to cause disease.
Taiwan’s first KP.2 case was detected at the end of March, and in early April the country had recorded six imported cases and four local transmissions.
The World Health Organisation on May 3 listed KP.2 as a variant under monitoring. – May 16, 2024