evidence: "Two independent labs have basically shown that BA.2.86 essentially is not a further immune escape compared with current variants," Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and leader of one of the labs, told CNN. [...] So when BA.2.86 appeared on the scene in late July with eerie echoes of Omicron, variant hunters were spooked, and researchers leapt into action to learn more about the new lineage. It has spread to at least 11 countries, including the United States. [...] In an update posted Friday, the group concluded that BA.2.86 doesn’t meet its definition of a variant of concern because it doesn’t have any evidence that the profile represents a harmful change to its biological properties or a growth rate suggesting it would move at least as fast as or faster than currently circulating variants.