Page 4 - Ryan Hisner News Today

Dubbed "Pirola" by variant trackers, the strain is different enough from other Omicron to potentially warrant a Greek letter from the WHO, experts say.

BA.6: New Covid Variant Branded The Real Deal Could Already Be In Britain

Booster jabs will be offered to millions of over-65s, NHS workers and anyone deemed high-risk in the UK. But this years top-up campaign, set to begin in October, has been massively scaled back.

With only three cases sequenced globally, it hasnt been given an official name - although some are referring to it as BA.6 or the Pi variant.

The Omicron spin-off - given the placeholder name as BA.X but yet to be officially named - has been categorised as a currently circulating variant under monitoring by the UN health agency.

Dr Thomas Moore, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Kansas, told DailyMail.com: Im sure it is already here. If it hasnt already made it here, it probably will very soon.

EXCLUSIVE: The Omicron spin-off, dubbed BA.6, has sparked concerns of a fresh wave because of its catalogue of mutations. Only two countries, Denmark and Israel, have spotted it so far.

The significance of the variant is still unclear as other heavily mutated variants have often fizzled out.

The strain is yet to be officially named but has been dubbed BA.6. Others, however, warned it is far too early to panic and argued that pandemic-era restrictions in the UK wont be needed.

The new sub-strain - which doesnt have an official name but has been dubbed BA.6 - has only been spotted in two countries so far, Denmark and Israel.