Table 1. Classification of circulating genetic variants of SARS-CoV-2 that currently pose the greatest threat to public health (as of 10 August 2021).
WHO, World Health Organization; CDC, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; ECDC, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; PHE, Public Health England; VOC, variant of concern; VOI, variant of interest; VUI, variant under investigation.
| Lineage | Label | First detected in | Earliest samples | WHO | CDC | ECDC | PHE |
| B.1.1.7 | Alpha | United Kingdom | September 2020 | VOC | VOC | VOC | VOC |
| B.1.1.7 + E484K | Alpha | United Kingdom | February 2021 | VOC | VOC | ||
| B.1.351 | Beta | South Africa | May 2020 | VOC | VOC | VOC | VOC |
| B.1.1.28.1 (P.1) | Gamma | Brazil | November 2020 | VOC | VOC | VOC | VOC |
| B.1.1.28.2 (P.2) | Zeta | Brazil | April 2020 | VUI | |||
| B.1.1.28.3 (P.3) | Theta | Philippines | January 2021 | VOI | VUI | ||
| B.1.617.1 | Kappa | India | October 2020 | VOI | VOI | VOI | VUI |
| B.1.617.2 | Delta | India | October 2020 | VOC | VOC | VOC | VOC |
| B.1.617.3 | India | October 2020 | VOI | VUI | |||
| B.1.427/B.1.429 | Epsilon | USA | March 2020 | VOI | |||
| B.1.525 | Eta | Nigeria | December 2020 | VOI | VOI | VOI | VUI |
| B.1.526 | Iota | USA | November 2020 | VOI | VOI | ||
| B.1.620 | Lithuania | February 2021 | VOI | ||||
| B.1.621 | Colombia | January 2021 | VOI | VUI | |||
| B.1.1.318 | United Kingdom | February 2021 | VUI | ||||
| A.23.1 + E484K | United Kingdom | February 2021 | VUI | ||||
| AV.1 | United Kingdom | May 2021 | VUI | ||||
| C.36.3 | Thailand/Egypt | May 2021 | VUI | ||||
| C.37 | Lambda | Peru | December 2020 | VOI | VOI | VUI |