Summary of designated AY lineages

We’ve continued to incorporate new AY lineages in recent pangoLEARN models. As previously outlined, most of these lineages show significant geographical clustering and they have been designated to help researchers track the virus on a finer scale. Their designation does not imply any functional biological difference from B.1.617.2 and, like B.1.617.2, they correspond to the WHO-defined Delta variant (https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/)..

Below is a summary of the AY lineages that have been designated to date, including their dominant geographical locations and associated mutations. We expect that new AY lineages will continue to follow and will add any future AY lineages to this table.

Table of currently designated AY lineages, their predominant geographical location(s) and their associated mutation(s). Note that the listed mutations are those that occurred along the phylogenetic branch immediately preceding the common ancestor of the lineage. These mutations are therefore those that separate the AY lineage from closely related sequences but may not be all of the mutations that separate them from other AY lineages or more distant B.1.617.2 sequences.