The EG.5.1 form of Covid-19 that is currently spreading is just another illustration of how the virus will continue to mutate.

The World Health Organization (WHO) listed EG.5# as another severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant to its variation under monitoring (VUM) list on July 19, 2023, reports Forbes.

Also read: Symptoms of Omicron: How is it different from Covid-19 Variant Delta?

Currently, this WHO VUM serves as a catch-all for any variant beginning with EG.5, such as EG.5 and EG.5.1.

On Twitter, T Ryan Gregory, PhD, a Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, coined the term "Eris" to describe the EG.5.1 variation.

“There's nothing particularly special about EG.5.1 [XBB.1.9.2.5.1] as far as we can tell,” Gergory’s tweet read.

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Given the rate at which it has spread, it appears to be more transmissible than preceding forms.

According to the UK Health Security Agency, as of July 20, the EG.5.1 variant accounted for 14.55% of all Covid-19 cases and was growing at a pace of 20.51% each week in the UK.

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Covid-19 Data Tracker, EG.5 variants increased from an estimated 11.9% of all Covid-19 cases during the two-week period ending July 22 to 17.3% during the two-week period ending August 5 in the US. It has now eclipsed the XBB.1.16 as the most common variation in the United States, the Forbes report also said.

Also read: Omicron: What we know about the COVID-19 Variant so far

The emergence and spread of Eris should not cause panic. It is, however, an indication of how the Covid-19 virus continues to change and remains a problem. Everyone should keep up to date on what varieties arise and what they are doing.