A newly emerging COVID-19 variant, PJ.2.1, is attracting scientific attention because of an unusual number of genetic changes in its spike protein and evidence that it may attach more efficiently to human cells. However, researchers say there is currently no evidence that it causes more severe illness or significantly evades vaccine-induced antibody protection.

According to a study published in the Journal of Infection, PJ.2.1 is a lineage of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. It emerged from MC.10.1.7, a branch of the JN.1 lineage, and has been described by scientists as a saltation variant, i.e. a variant that appears to have acquired numerous genetic changes in a relatively sudden evolutionary leap rather than through gradual accumulation.

Researchers have identified more than 25 mutations in its spike protein, the structure the virus uses to attach to and enter human cells. These changes are important because the spike protein also plays a central role in how the immune system recognizes the virus.

Why scientists are watching PJ.2.1

One of the most notable findings from early laboratory research is that PJ.2.1 appears to have an enhanced ability to interact with ACE2, a receptor on human cells that SARS-CoV-2 uses to gain entry.

The study published in the Journal of Infection found that laboratory-created viral particles carrying the PJ.2.1 spike protein entered several tested cell lines more efficiently than particles carrying the LP.8.1 spike protein. Researchers also found evidence of increased ACE2-binding efficiency.

These findings could help explain why the lineage is gaining ground in some locations. However, laboratory experiments do not establish how quickly a variant spreads among people. Real-world transmission depends on several factors, including population immunity, behavior and the characteristics of the circulating virus.

There is also encouraging evidence concerning vaccine protection. In the same research, antibodies from people who received an LP.8.1-adapted COVID-19 vaccine were still able to neutralize PJ.2.1. Its susceptibility to antibody neutralization was only moderately reduced compared with LP.8.1, and researchers did not find the substantial immune escape observed with some other variants examined. <Cite refs={[“turn964909search0″,”turn964909search6”]}/>

Is PJ.2.1 more dangerous?

At present, there is no established evidence that PJ.2.1 causes more severe COVID-19 than earlier variants.

The research so far has focused largely on its genetic characteristics, ability to enter cells and susceptibility to antibodies. More clinical and epidemiological evidence will be needed to determine whether its unusual mutations translate into differences in symptoms, hospitalization rates or deaths.

Some research has found the lineage more frequently among older individuals. However, this does not establish that PJ.2.1 specifically targets older people or causes more serious disease in that age group.

Older adults and people with underlying health conditions remain important groups for COVID-19 prevention because of their general vulnerability to severe respiratory infections, regardless of the variant involved.

Where has the variant been detected?

PJ.2.1 was first identified in Ontario, Canada, and has subsequently been reported in other countries.

Research published in the Journal of Infection describes its spread in Canada, the United States and Spain. <Cite refs={[“turn964909search0″,”turn964909search1”]}/> The supplied surveillance information also identifies detections in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and France.

The variant’s growth in Ontario has attracted particular attention. According to the figures provided from Public Health Ontario, PJ.2.1 represented 25.2% of sequenced SARS-CoV-2 samples collected between September 20 and October 17, 2026, compared with 16.9% in the preceding four-week period.

These percentages describe the share of samples that were sequenced, not the proportion of the entire population infected with the variant. Nevertheless, the increase suggests that PJ.2.1 is becoming more prominent in Ontario’s genomic surveillance.

Canada’s national respiratory-virus surveillance has also documented a sharp rise in the lineage, with PJ.2.1 accounting for 27.8% of sequenced samples in the two-week period beginning September 13, 2026.

What symptoms should people look out for?

There is currently no established evidence that PJ.2.1 produces a distinct set of symptoms compared with other COVID-19 variants.

Possible symptoms include:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Runny or blocked nose
• Headache
• Muscle and body aches
• Fatigue and weakness

Some people may also experience breathlessness, digestive problems or changes in their sense of smell or taste.

Because COVID-19 and influenza can produce similar symptoms, it may not be possible to distinguish between them based on symptoms alone. Testing can help establish the cause of an illness.

Anyone experiencing severe symptoms, particularly difficulty breathing, should seek prompt medical attention.

What is the WHO’s position?

The World Health Organization continues to monitor the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and maintains classifications for variants requiring different levels of attention.

Based on the WHO’s published variant-tracking list available at the time of writing, PJ.2.1 is not listed as a Variant of Interest or Variant of Concern. It is also not among the lineages identified in the WHO’s published list of Variants Under Monitoring dated July 27, 2026.

These classifications are not declarations that a variant is harmless. They reflect the WHO’s assessment of the available evidence and the need to monitor changes that could affect public health.

Should the public be worried?

The emergence of PJ.2.1 is a reminder that SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve, even years after the initial COVID-19 pandemic.

Its numerous spike-protein mutations and apparent ability to bind more efficiently to human cells make it scientifically important. Its increasing representation in sequencing data in parts of North America also justifies continued surveillance.

However, the available evidence does not establish that PJ.2.1 causes more severe illness or substantially escapes the protection offered by LP.8.1-adapted vaccines.

There is no reason for panic, but public health vigilance remains important. People should follow current vaccination recommendations, stay home and limit contact with others when ill, consider testing when COVID-19 is suspected and seek medical care when symptoms become severe.

For now, PJ.2.1 is a variant scientists are watching closely, not evidence that another major COVID-19 crisis is inevitable. More real-world data will determine whether its unusual genetic characteristics translate into a significant public health threat.

Democrats wrested control of both the House and Senate from Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections, riding a historic wave that swept the party into power in Congress and in statehouses across the country.

On Tuesday, November 3, 2026, American voters delivered a stunning rebuke of President Donald Trump and rejected many of the candidates he had personally recruited and endorsed.

With new majorities set to take office in January, here is a comprehensive update on the key takeaways from a night that reshaped American politics:

1. A historic blue wave — and a visceral rejection of Trump

In an election in which Trump urged his faithful to vote as if he were on the ballot, Republicans were washed out of power in places the party hadn’t lost in a generation, and sometimes far longer. Democrats won a Senate race in Kansas for the first time since 1932, a South Carolina Senate seat the GOP had held since Strom Thurmond switched parties in 1964, and a slew of statewide offices in Texas, where they hadn’t won any since the 1990s. The gains the GOP had made during the Trump era, particularly among Latinos and in rural areas, were wiped out in a single night. After a decade of dismal showings in the Rust Belt and Great Plains, the Democratic Party roared back to life in Middle America, winning both the governor’s office and a Senate race in each of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio. The White House is already deflecting blame, but the results were a clear rejection of Trump’s second term.

2. Democrats retake the Senate, flipping seven seats
Democrats flipped the seven Republican-held Senate seats they needed to claim the majority, winning races in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas — and doing so by defeating several candidates hand-picked by Trump. The party also retained all of its Senate seats, including a closely watched Michigan contest in which progressive former public health official Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers, and Minnesota, where Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan held off former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya. The Mississippi Senate race remained too close to call, with Democrat Scott Colom and Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith separated by a razor-thin margin in a state Trump won by 23 points two years ago.

3. Texas breaks the dam — Democrats win statewide for the first time since 1994
No state illustrated the Democratic wave more dramatically than Texas, which had not elected a Democrat to statewide office in over three decades. The dam broke on Tuesday: Democrat James Talarico won the high-profile open Senate race, the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history, defeating scandal-plagued Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was endorsed by Trump. In an even more striking result, Democrat Gina Hinojosa won the governor’s race, defeating three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who entered the race with a war chest of over $100 million. Other Republican statewide officials were trailing, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Taken together, the results augur profound change in what has long been the country’s biggest Republican stronghold.

4. Republican redistricting gambit backfires as Democrats retake the House
Republicans sought an early advantage by redrawing a slew of House districts in red states to pick up more seats. By most accounts, the strategy backfired. Democrats will maintain control of at least eight of the 15 districts targeted by GOP redistricting efforts and have flipped at least four seats away from Republicans, according to CNN projections. In Texas, Democrats were on track to win most of the five seats Republicans reconfigured to help themselves, including the 34th Congressional District in South Texas, which the GOP redrew to be one Trump would have carried by 10 points, but where Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez was winning by double digits. In Alabama, Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures held on despite being drawn into a district Trump would have carried by 14 points.

“We have crushed the Republican gerrymander all across the land,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — now on the path to become the first Black speaker of the House — said on X.

5. Trump’s long list of recruitment and endorsement missteps
The political environment might have wiped Republicans out anyway, but a series of GOP recruiting missteps, largely on Trump’s part, appear to have worsened the party’s problems. In Texas, Trump ignored Republicans who lobbied him to endorse the more moderate incumbent, Sen. John Cornyn, stayed out of the primary, and then endorsed Paxton after the runoff — saddling the party with a nominee who was a lackluster campaigner, poor fundraiser and easy target after decades of scandals. In Georgia, his endorsement boosted Rep. Mike Collins over a more moderate alternative backed by popular GOP Gov. Brian Kemp; Democrat Jon Ossoff won easily. In Ohio, Trump effectively cleared the field for Vivek Ramaswamy, whose ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent backfired, and Trump and Vice President JD Vance doubled down in defending it. Democrat Amy Acton won.

6. Jon Ossoff and the 2028 shadow campaign
Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff was viewed as vulnerable just two years ago, after Trump won the state in 2024. On Tuesday, his race was among the first of the closely watched elections to be called as he thumped Republican Mike Collins. While Ossoff has claimed he’s not interested in running for president, calls for him to enter the race will only grow louder after he proved he could win resoundingly in a battleground state. The results were full of encouraging signs for other potential 2028 contenders: Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania cruised to reelection, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear scored a big win when his former aide flipped a GOP-friendly House district. Pritzker nodded to the speculation in his victory speech:

“We climbed one mountain tonight, but we are sitting at the base of another.”

7. The polling industry vindicated
Tuesday night’s results vindicated pollsters who had been calling a blue wave. Republicans, and even some Democrats, were hesitant to predict Democratic domination due to underrepresentation of Trump voters in polls. But surveys accounted for this in their models, and the results held up.

8. A huge swing among Latino voters — and warning signs for the GOP in Florida
In Florida, the results offered evidence of a potentially enormous swing among Latino voters in Democrats’ favor. Democrats held onto three seats Republicans had redrawn to guarantee victories this fall, with CNN projecting Reps. Kathy Castor and Jared Moskowitz will win in redrawn districts, as will Democrat Pia Dandiya in the 22nd District. In central Florida’s heavily Hispanic 9th District, Democratic Rep. Darren Soto narrowly led his Republican challenger. But the biggest eye-opener may come in South Florida’s 27th District in overwhelmingly Latino Miami-Dade County, where Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar won by 20 points two years ago but led Democratic challenger Eliott Rodriguez by just over a thousand votes as of early Wednesday. A swing of that size means the gains Trump made with Latino voters in 2024 have effectively evaporated, at least in Florida.

9. A roster of historic firsts
Before this year, only three Black candidates had ever won governor’s races in the United States, and multiple Black governors had never served simultaneously. Those ranks are rapidly growing, with four Black candidates winning Tuesday. In Georgia, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of any state in U.S. history when she became the first Democrat to win the office in 28 years. In Florida, Rep. Byron Donalds became the first Black Republican elected governor in U.S. history. In Wisconsin, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley won the race to replace outgoing Gov. Tony Evers, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore won a second term. In Senate races, Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire became the first openly gay man elected to the Senate; Annie Andrews is projected to become the first elected female U.S. senator from South Carolina; and Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim elected to the Senate in Michigan. Democrat Deb Haaland became the first Native American woman to win a race for governor with her victory in New Mexico.

10. Musk’s money onslaught meets its match — and Trump declines to accept blame
Tech mogul Elon Musk poured $168 million into two Texas super PACs aimed at salvaging Paxton’s Senate bid and helping the GOP retain its majority, plus millions more through his America PAC and over $5 million to Abbott’s reelection campaign, making him the country’s largest publicly disclosed political donor this cycle, with nearly half a billion dollars pumped into federal committees.

“We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas,” Talarico said in his victory speech. Musk, on X, quipped: “Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time.”

Meanwhile, Trump watched returns from the White House East Room, where the mood was described as tense. He went silent on Truth Social for three hours as Democrats kept winning, before posting just after 10:30 p.m.:

“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”

He later told Fox News the results were only a “little surprise” and blamed the candidates — many of whom he had selected himself, rather than accept responsibility. “But I don’t view it as a hit on me,” he said.

As votes continue to be counted, Democrats have opportunities to build on a historic night, leading in several competitive Senate races in which the outcome is too early to call.

Two men have been killed by falling trees as Storm Boelo continues to batter the United Kingdom with severe weather, leaving more than 90,000 properties without power and causing widespread travel chaos.

A man in his 20s was pronounced dead in north London on Sunday after the car he was driving was struck by a falling tree. The fatality came hours after a 60-year-old man died in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

The Energy Networks Association (ENA) said that as of 19:00 GMT on Sunday, more than 90,000 properties remained without electricity. The association warned that dangerous conditions were “limiting network engineers’ opportunities to safely start the work,” causing delays for affected households.

Fatalities Across the Country

The Metropolitan Police were called to Dollis Road in Finchley at around 12:40 GMT following reports that a tree had fallen onto a moving car. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

Chief Inspector Guy Ellwood, from the North West Command Unit, said: “This is a deeply tragic incident and our thoughts are with the loved ones of the young man who lost his life.”

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson confirmed it sent incident response officers, paramedics from its hazardous area response team, and a trauma team from London’s Air Ambulance to the scene.

Earlier, Police Scotland reported that a man died after being hit by a falling tree at Mid Kelton near Castle Douglas. In a separate incident in Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross, two women were taken to hospital after being struck by a fallen tree at around 12:50 GMT.

Record Power Cuts

Across Storm Boelo and the earlier Storm Austen, which hit the UK on Friday, a combined 838,700 properties faced power cuts, according to the ENA.

Wind gusts peaked on Sunday morning at 85mph in Machrihanish, Argyll and Bute, and 84mph in both Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides and Capel Curig in north Wales.

An amber wind warning issued by the Met Office remained in place until 21:00 on Sunday across Scotland and parts of northern England. A yellow warning covering areas including Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as well as parts of the East and West Midlands and North Wales, also expired at 21:00.

The Met Office urged people to “stay indoors as much as possible,” adding: “If you do go out, try not to walk, or shelter, close to buildings and trees.”

Flooding and Travel Disruption

Four flood warnings were issued for parts of England and Wales on Sunday, while 17 flood warnings remained in place in Scotland. High rainfall totals were recorded in the Scottish Highlands, peaking at 130mm in Cluanie Inn.

The towns of the Clyde coast in Scotland were hit particularly hard. The main Skelmorlie to Largs road has been badly damaged, and a number of businesses in Largs were flooded overnight on Saturday. In Gourock, a boat ended up on the side of the road, and reports emerged of power being out in Girvan throughout Sunday.

In Dumbarton, on the north bank of the River Clyde, Muhammad Zubair Ashraf’s mobile phone shop was flooded overnight. He estimated between £5,000 and £10,000 of damage was caused and said he was “heartbroken” at the scale of the losses.

Travel has been severely affected across the country. Police in Scotland warned against unnecessary road journeys, ferry services have been impacted, some flights to and from Belfast, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dublin airports have been cancelled, and train services across the UK have faced disruption.

Government Response

Scottish government ministers and officials gathered on Sunday afternoon to discuss the impact of Storm Boelo.

In a statement, the Scottish government said that while conditions may ease later on Sunday, there is potential for adverse weather to return in the coming days.