The World Health Organisation and the US health authorities had on Thursday said they were closely monitoring a new variant of Covid-19, although the potential impact of BA.2.86 is currently unknown. WHO designated the COVID-19 variant BA.2.86 as a ‘variant under monitoring’ due to the large number of mutations it carries. There is currently insufficient data to assess the relative severity or degree of immune escape compared to other currently-circulating variants. The UK Health Security Agency has confirmed the first case of COVID-19 variant BA.2.86 in the country. Will the covid-19 virus with us to stay ?