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Section sizes Section size for Variants of SARS-CoV-2 (69 sections) Section name Byte count Section total (Top) 2,738 2,738 Overview 27,498 27,498 Nomenclature 10,995 18,722 Lineages and clades 5,651 5,651 Classification of variants 2,076 2,076 Reference sequence 5,327 5,327 Notability criteria 3,215 3,215 Variants of concern (WHO) 915 915 Overview of historical variants of concern or under monitoring 67 14,367 Omicron 51 14,300 Lineage B.1.1.529 4,022 4,022 BA. sublineages 2,018 2,018 Further sublineages emerging in 2022 1,338 1,338 Further sublineages emerging in 2023: EG.5 "Eris", BA.2.86, and JN.1 "Pirola" 5,344 5,344 Further sublineages emerging in 2024: KP.1.1, KP.2 ("FLiRT"), KP.3 ("FLuQE") 1,527 1,527 Omicron variants under monitoring (WHO, 2022/2023) 2,272 2,272 Variants of interest (WHO) 1,956 1,956 Variants under monitoring (WHO) 747 747 Previously circulating and formerly monitored variants (WHO) 474 76,256 Previously circulating variants of concern (VOC) 299 46,531 Alpha (lineage B.1.1.7) 10,889 14,229 B.1.1.7 with E484K 3,340 3,340 Beta (lineage B.1.351) 6,343 6,343 Gamma (lineage P.1) 13,230 13,230 Delta (lineage B.1.617.2) 12,430 12,430 Previously circulating variants of interest (VOI) 1,055 27,621 Epsilon (lineages B.1.429, B.1.427, CAL.20C) 10,334 10,334 Zeta (lineage P.2) 620 620 Eta (lineage B.1.525) 4,359 4,359 Theta (lineage P.3) 4,585 4,585 Iota (lineage B.1.526) 924 924 Kappa (lineage B.1.617.1) 2,160 2,160 Lambda (lineage C.37) 2,114 2,114 Mu (lineage B.1.621) 1,470 1,470 Formerly monitored variants (WHO) 1,630 1,630 Other notable variants 15,175 15,175 Notable missense mutations 109 38,550 del 69-70 708 708 RSYLTPGD246-253N 2,409 2,409 N440K 1,929 1,929 G446V 1,168 1,168 L452R 780 780 Y453F 765 765 S477G/N 2,469 2,469 E484Q 1,278 1,278 E484K 5,806 5,806 F490S 1,443 1,443 N501Y 2,624 2,624 N501S 1,687 1,687 D614G 5,847 5,847 Q677P/H 2,209 2,209 P681H 2,062 2,062 P681R 505 505 A701V 4,752 4,752 Recombinant variants 1,519 1,519 Differential vaccine effectiveness 2,299 2,475 Immune evasion by variants 89 176 Vaccine adjustments 87 87 Data and methods 2,319 8,960 New variant detection and assessment 3,960 3,960 Testing 2,681 2,681 Incubation theory for multiple mutated variants 2,023 2,023 Cross-species transmission 2,089 6,390 Cluster 5 4,301 4,301 See also 361 361 Notes 517 517 References 4,173 4,173 Further reading 1,026 1,026 External links 440 440 Total 235,622 235,622

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In the main section of the article, citation 4 is listed as "failed verification" because its most recent listed accessed date is 2022 and the sentence citing the page lists a date in 2024. This WHO page ( link) is updated frequently. At time of writing, the apparent most recent update was 15 April 2024, when an updated risk evaluation for JN.1 was added, and the page itself claims to be up to date as of 3 May 2024. What is the appropriate way to cite a single URL which updates frequently? 184.62.88.78 ( talk) 20:24, 9 May 2024 (UTC) reply

will look-- Ozzie10aaaa ( talk) 22:44, 9 May 2024 (UTC) reply

Have a look at Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants, Wikidata  Q127328768 – which is a generic element with multiple versions. Currently it has two specific versions:

• Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants, World Health Organization, 20 December 2023, Wikidata  Q127328911, archived from the original on 20 December 2023
• Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants, World Health Organization, 28 June 2024, Wikidata  Q127328784, archived from the original on 10 July 2024.

See {{ cite Q}} for documentation on using cite Q. The generic Wikidata property has edition or translation (P747) should be added to the generic element such as Q127328768, and the property edition or translation of (P629) should be added to the specific element representing a source of the page, such as Q127328911 or Q127328784. Boud ( talk) 17:29, 10 July 2024 (UTC) reply

I'm somewhat reluctant to start a new section, but my source mentions this variant and doesn't say it began in 2023. If it didn't start in 2023, it must have started in 2024.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 19:06, 14 May 2024 (UTC) reply

yes, 2024-- Ozzie10aaaa ( talk) 18:14, 10 July 2024 (UTC) reply

This is in a 2024 section now. Dan Bloch ( talk) 18:32, 10 July 2024 (UTC) reply

Retraction watch has flagged an erratum re the Tang paper. The authors write: "We now recognize that within the context of our study the term “aggressive” is misleading and should be replaced by a more precise term “a higher frequency”. In short, while we have shown that the two lineages naturally co-exist, we provided no evidence supporting any epidemiological conclusion regarding the virulence or pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2..." My impression is that the elements of the retraction don't affect the words currently used in this article. Could this be checked by an expert? Yadsalohcin ( talk) 08:44, 14 June 2024 (UTC) reply

thank you for post-- Ozzie10aaaa ( talk) 18:13, 10 July 2024 (UTC) reply

The sentence in lead section "As of June 2024, only Omicron is designated as a circulating variant of concern by the World Health Organization." is incorrect. The website itself (updated on 5 June 2024) used as a source for this sentence doesn't list any circulating VoCs.

This WHO's statement from 16 March 2023 states "With these changes factored in, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta as well as the Omicron parent lineage (B.1.1.529) are considered previously circulating VOCs."

Omicron's sublineages and their descendants were given separate labels such as VOI and VUM. KapSoule ( talk) 11:33, 16 June 2024 (UTC) reply

 Fixed Boud ( talk) 17:18, 10 July 2024 (UTC) reply

As of the current version of 18:17, 10 July 2024, we have three sections that are useful (especially since there is no point having all the descendants of Omicron listed in SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, and nobody seems to be trying to add them there anyway), but don't quite make sense in terms of the overall structure of the article. They should be shifted to be either earlier or later than the three VOC, VOI, and VUM stand-alone sections, or be integrated into a single section:

• Variants of SARS-CoV-2#Overview of historical variants of concern or under monitoring
• Variants of SARS-CoV-2#Variant of concern lineages under monitoring (WHO) - which has a good table
• Variants of SARS-CoV-2#Previously circulating and formerly monitored variants (WHO)

I'm not sure how these should be re-organised, but it seems to me that the main principle should be that we don't want a particular variant to be listed multiple times in detail in these sections - because then people won't know which entry is the main one to read or edit.

My initial proposal is that integrating Variants of SARS-CoV-2#Overview of historical variants of concern or under monitoring and Variants of SARS-CoV-2#Variant of concern lineages under monitoring (WHO) into the three respective sections of Variants of SARS-CoV-2#Previously circulating and formerly monitored variants (WHO) would make the most sense, possibly addding one or two extra subsections e.g. for a table.

This is mainly a problem of lack of media attention to SARS-CoV-2 since 2021-ish: less media attention leads to less Wikipedia editing.

Please give any arguments for or against this proposal, or describe alternative proposals on how to reorganise these sections. Boud ( talk) 18:33, 10 July 2024 (UTC) reply