Many potential ‘contenders’ try to undermine the dominance of the Omicron 5 sub-variant of Sars-CoV-2. But at the moment it is not yet clear if and which of these will be able to emerge. A real signal seems to arrive from the United States regarding the potential of the BQ.1.1 sub-lineage, already baptized Cerberus by experts on social networks.
Cerberus is a ‘daughter’ of Omicron 5 itself and to turn the spotlight on her is Eric Topol, American scientist director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California, who on Twitter writes about an “important update” that comes “from the US genomic surveillance “on Covid,” with a noteworthy transition: when BA.5 wanes, BQ.1.1 quickly gains “ground,” along with other variants, “notes the expert, posting a graph of the Cdc ( the US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control). The latest projections show that Cerberus is given up from 2.4% on October 8 to a 5.7% forecast for October 15, then growing rapidly within a week. In a scenario where BA.4.6, another sub-variant (of Omicron 4) that has raced a lot in the country, is given at 12.2%, but steady compared to the previous week.
To illustrate the characteristics of BQ.1.1, the scholar calls into question a map of the variants in circulation (a map of convergent evolution) and explains that for the “marked immunoevasive properties” it would seem to be “the main ‘engine’ of the next wave in United States in the coming weeks “.