New COVID Variant LP.8.1: What You Should Know
The Rise of LP.8.1
Five years into the COVID-19 pandemic, new SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to emerge. The latest variant on the rise is LP.8.1, which is increasing in Australia and accounts for nearly one in five COVID cases in New South Wales. In some countries, it has become even more dominant, making up at least three in five cases in the United Kingdom.
An Omicron Offshoot
LP.8.1 was first detected in July 2024 and is a descendant of Omicron, specifically of KP.1.1.3, which is descended from JN.1, a subvariant that caused large waves of COVID infections around the world in late 2023 and early 2024. The World Health Organization designated LP.8.1 as a variant under monitoring in January due to its significant growth globally and genetic changes that may allow the virus to spread more easily and pose a greater risk to human health.
- LP.8.1 has mutations at six locations in its spike protein
- One mutation, V445R, is thought to allow this variant to spread more easily
- V445R has been shown to increase binding to human lung cells in laboratory studies
However, the symptoms of LP.8.1 do not appear to be any more severe than other circulating strains, and the WHO has evaluated the additional public health risk LP.8.1 poses at a global level to be low. These changes to the virus with LP.8.1 are small and not likely to make a big difference to the trajectory of the pandemic.
Will Cases Increase?
COVID as a whole is still a major national and international health concern. So far this year, there have been close to 45,000 new cases recorded in Australia, while around 260 people are currently in hospital with the virus. Because many people are no longer testing or reporting their infections, the real number of cases is probably far higher.
In Australia, LP.8.1 has become the third most dominant strain in NSW behind XEC and KP.3. It has been growing over the past couple of months and this trend looks set to continue. Sequences of LP.8.1 in the GISAID database, used to track the prevalence of variants around the world, increased from around 3% at the end of 2024 to 38% of global sequences as of mid-March.
Will Vaccines Work?
Current COVID vaccines, including the most recently available JN.1 shots, are still expected to offer good protection against symptomatic and severe disease with LP.8.1. Nonetheless, due to its designation as a variant under monitoring, WHO member countries will continue to study the behavior of the LP.8.1 variant, including any potential capacity to evade our immunity.
While there’s no cause for panic due to the LP.8.1 variant at this stage, COVID can still be a severe disease for some. Continued vigilance and vaccination, particularly for medically vulnerable groups, is essential in minimizing the impact of the disease.
