EU Officials Say New COVID Variant Is Expected to Rise Across Continent

Officials have forecast that it is not expected to produce a significant risk to the public health.

This scanning electron microscope image shows the novel coronavirus (orange), which causes COVID-19 disease, isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (green) cultured in the lab. Photo published on Feb. 13, 2020. NIAID-RML

Officials in the European Union said that a new COVID-19 variant is expected to rise across the EU in the coming weeks.

The variant, NB.1.8.1, spread across mainland China earlier this year and has now reached the United States, where it accounts for more than a third of all COVID-19 cases, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention update issued on June 13.