Table 1.

Capture of the emergence of the major WHO-named SARS-CoV-2 variants.

WHO	Country of origin	Hit date	Early hit	1st communication	Comparison (weeks)
Alpha	United Kingdom	Dec-wk1-20	$✓$	Dec-wk3-20	2 Weeks earlier
Beta	South Africa	Nov-wk1-20	$\times$ (2 weeks)	Dec-wk3-20	6 Weeks earlier
Gamma	Brazil	Jan-wk3-21	$✓$	Jan-wk1-21	2 Weeks later
Delta	India	Apr-wk3-21	$✓$	Apr-wk3-21	Same time
Epsilon	California (USA)	Nov-wk4-20	$✓$	Jan-wk3-21	7 Weeks earlier
Zeta	Brazil	Dec-wk2-20	$✓$	Dec-wk4-20	2 Weeks earlier
Iota	New York (USA)	Feb-wk2-21	$\times$ (1 week)	Feb-wk2-21	Same time
Kappa	India	Feb-wk4-21	$✓$	Mar-wk4-21	4 Weeks earlier

WHO variant name; its country of origin; hit date, corresponding to the warning date for early hits, extended by a short delay of two weeks for Beta and one week for Iota (late hits, see “Methods” section); first communication date retrieved from institutional or research outlets (see “Methods” section); temporal comparison between hit date and 1st communication (in weeks).