New family of Covid-19 variants nicknamed ‘FLiRT’ are on the rise in US | All you need to know

A new family of variants of COVID-19 are doing rounds in the US- the ‘FLiRT’ variants. These variants are also from the deadly lineage of the Omicron variant but are derivatives of the JN.1, the variant that caused a surge in cases at the start of the year. 

The letters in FLiRT variants are based on the technical names of their mutations, one which includes the letters F and L, and another one includes the letters R and T. Within this group of variants, one particular variant is of rising concern: KP.2.

As per the data gathered from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), KP.2 has accounted for about 25 per cent of new sequenced cases during the two weeks ending April 27. However, other FLiRT variants, like KP.1.1, have not become as widespread in the US yet. 

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But is this family of variants of concern?

Concerns around FLiRT variants

As per reports, researchers are still studying and gathering more information on FLiRT variants. Talking to Time, Dr Eric Topol, Executive Vice President at Scripps Research, said that the KP.2 variant from the family of variants is on the rise in the US, but it will be too soon to tell whether it will cause a major surge in cases in coming months.

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For now, the amount of Covid-19 viruses in US wastewater remains “minimal,” according to the CDC. Hospitalisations and deaths have also continued to decline steadily since their recent peaks in January. At the global level, case counts rose from early to mid-April, but remain far lower than they were a few months ago.

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KP.2 and its relatives are likely to cause an uptick in cases in the States, but won’t cause a big wave, says Topol. “It might be a ‘wavelet.’” That’s because people who were recently infected by the JN.1 variant seem to have some protection against re-infection, Topol believes. Also, the virus hasn’t mutated enough to become wildly different from the previous strains.

A recent study from researchers in Japan, which was posted online before being peer-reviewed, also found that KP.2 is less infectious than JN.1.

Do vaccines work on FLiRT variants?

Vaccines are still a good prevention and protection option against any COVID-19-related hospitalisation and death. However, two preliminary studies, from Japan and China, show the FLiRT variants may be better at dodging immune protection from vaccines than JN.1 was.

And this is not a good sign, as many people, who got the recent booster shots, got it last fall. This means their protection has begun to diminish, Topol says.

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It is still advisable to rely on vaccines. In an April 26 statement, the World Health Organization recommended basing future vaccine formulations on the JN.1 lineage, since it seems the virus will continue to evolve from that variant. The most recent booster was based on an older strain, XBB.1.5.

The virus is bound to evolve, but public health advice remains the same - vaccinate yourself, test before big gatherings, stay home when you’re ill and consider wearing masks in public places.

(With inputs from agencies)