Are you ready for BQ1.1?

... BQ.1.1 had an advantage [over other variants], thanks in part to an eyebrow-raising three major mutations on its spike protein, the part of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that helps it grab onto and infect our cells. These mutations—N460K, K444T, and R346T—make BQ.1.1 more contagious than its cousins.

These and other mutations also give BQ.1.1’s ability to evade antibody therapies. These therapies aren’t the only way to treat COVID, of course—there are antiviral drugs and treatments that don’t include doses of antibodies.

But antibody therapies have proved popular and effective against other variants and subvariants of SARS-CoV-2. BQ.1.1 could begin to render them obsolete, narrowing our options for preventing COVID infections from becoming COVID deaths. https://www.thedailybeast.com/deadly-twist-in-covid-variant-takes-the-world-by-surprise