New info is preliminary, but seems to have caused an increase in hospitalizations and deaths in southern France. :fran
The question with every new variant is still "Will it be contagious enough to out-compete Omicron?" and my layperson's guess with this one is "likely not", just as the more-deadly Lambda variant from last year was largely out-competed by Delta.
Scientific paper about the new variant: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.24.21268174v1?fbclid=IwAR2_nQz4CYuCxUP_wFVMcvFmyU5Cp_57akROq5aqnuOGvGhG09aGnmPjxcw
Edit: Nitter link
The new strain sweeps across France, Italy, and the rest of Europe (except England because reasons) only to be stopped by Russian vaccines. Classic play.
It's like poetry. It rhymes