Global map that depicts the assigned antigenic score per country/region each month. The score is representative of the circulating lineages for each month, their potential antigenicity and frequency in that country/region. A dark blue represents a country antigenic score of 0 while red depicts a country antigenic score of 40. Countries/regions with higher antigenic scores have higher frequency circulating lineages that scored higher for potential antigenicity based on the methodology outlined here (Method).

Dynamics of standardized antigenic scores per country (top) and of country-wise antigenic alteration scores (bottom). The top figure plots standardized antigenic scores per country for countries with either 1% of the monthly global sequences or a minimum of 500 sequences for at least 30 months. Due to this threshold, there may be some missing months for a given country as they do not meet the required number of sequences. The standardized score was calculated by subtracting the mean antigenic country score of the specific month from the country score and dividing by the standard deviation of the country score and countries with a z-score above 1 are shown in color for the month(s) they are above the threshold. Ultimately, this shows when a country's antigenic score is significantly greater than the other countries' scores for that month. In the bottom figure the country-wise antigenic alteration scores, which are based on the frequency of circulating lineages and their assigned antigenic scores, are shown for Brazil, Germany, India, South Africa, the UK, and the USA, while other countries with either 1% of the monthly global sequences or a minimum of 500 sequences for at least 30 months during the time period represented in gray as "Other".

Heatmap with the frequencies of antigenically altered lineages over a specified frequency threshold for the previous complete month. Lineages with an asterisk are significantly altered compared to other circulating lineages with a standardized score of greater than or equal to 1. Otherwise the without an asterisk are ordered by frequency with the most frequent at the top of the heatmap. The dark red color indicates a frequency of 1 while the lighter color red represents a lower frequency closer to 0. Standardized antigenic scores to the right of the heatmap are shown for each lineage as well, with blue representing negative values and purple representing positive values. For further information about the SARS-CoV-2 lineage names, which follow the Pangolin nomenclature, see the FAQ.