Here's the latest variant picture for New South Wales, Australia.
The EG.5.* "Eris" variant (53%) has remained dominant. It's "FLip" sub-lineage HK.3 (25%) has continued to rise strongly.
#COVID19 #Australia #NSW #Sydney #EG_5 #Eris #FLip @auscovid19
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There's a resurgence of XBB.1.5 "Kraken" (13%).
This also appears to be mostly driven by the "FLip" sub-lineages GK.1.* and JD.1.* - a fascinating example of evolutionary convergence - a "triple-FLip".
F456L-carrying XBB*, like EG.5, is rapidly rising. Meanwhile, XBB*+L455F+F456L is also growing fast. Some updates explaining their advantages: 1) F456L evades serum neutralization, even after XBB infection. 2) L455F+F456L combo adds on evasion and could also boost ACE2 binding!
Sample volumes seem representative up to September 27.
Interactive genomic sequencing dataviz, code, acknowledgements and more info here:
https://github.com/Mike-Honey/covid-19-genomes#readme
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@Debdavey "FLip" is explained on the next post in that thread - see linked twitter thread from Yunlong Cao for more details.
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Mike Honey
Deb Davey