A new variant of COVID-19 is circulating in parts of the world and may be driving an increase in cases in the eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and western Pacific regions.

A new COVID variant, known as NB.1.8.1, has made landfall in the United States, and it's more transmissible than other variants.

As of mid-May, this variant has been identified in nearly 11 percent of sequenced samples reported worldwide. The WHO has designated this variant as a "variant under monitoring," and currently assesses the public health risk as low at the global level, with the expectation that current vaccines will remain effective against it.