New Covid sublineages identified since Fauci's retirement

More than one new Omicron sublineage of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been identified.

(Reuters) - More than one new sublineage of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 was identified after the retirement of top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, contrary to claims being shared online that no new variants have been discovered since his departure.

Examples of the claim can be seen (here) and (here) with the text, “Anyone else find it odd we just stopped having new variants all the sudden?”

A screenshot in one post (here) reads in part, “Seems like all the variants dried up when Fraudci retired.” 

Comments on the posts include, “Well it’s because we are now generating a new pandemic,” The presidential election variant coming soon…” and “Fauci said there will definitely be another outbreak of something coming smh! How is he still able to push this BS!”

Fauci announced on Aug. 22, 2022, (here) that he would step down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation and as chief medical adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden. He officially left the positions at the end of December 2022 (here).

Reuters reported on Jan. 5, 2023, (here) that the Omicron sublineage XBB.1.5, the most transmissible one to date, was already spreading rapidly in the U.S. in December 2022.

As of mid-April 2023, XBB.1.5 made up more than 88% of virus genome samples in the U.S., according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracking (here).

As of March 30, the World Health Organization (WHO) was also monitoring Omicron sublineage XBB.1.16 as a “variant of interest,” the earliest sample of which was documented on Jan. 23, 2023 (here ), with the highest prevalence in India (here). News reports regarding this new sublineage can be seen (here), (here) and (here).

The WHO defines a Variant of Interest as one with genetic changes that could affect its transmissibility, the severity of symptoms it causes, or its ability to evade immunity or therapies (here). The agency monitors these variants to see if they become a public health concern, but these are not the only new coronavirus lineages identified and tracked by international organizations.

Widely used alpha-numeric lineage names of all new coronavirus variants with sustained transmission, including XBB.1 and its descendants, are determined by the PANGO organization, and are listed on a searchable website (cov-lineages.org/index.html). More information about each of these sublineages can also be seen (outbreak.info/).

PANGO’s website (here) shows multiple new lineages identified from virus samples deposited around the world, and given names, in 2023. These include: XBB.1.24 and XBB.1.22.2 first spotted on Feb. 2, XBB.2.3.1 first seen on Jan. 29 and XBB.2.3.2 first identified on Jan. 18. None of these are under monitoring by the WHO at the time of publication.

The claims allude to the theory that the Covid-19 virus or its variants were planned or fabricated by the government or by Fauci. Reuters has previously debunked similar claims (here), (here) and (here).

VERDICT

Missing context. More than one new Omicron sublineage of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been identified since Anthony Fauci’s retirement.