Efficient inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 emerging EG.5,EG.5.1 and BA.2.86 variants by fusion inhibitor HY3000 peptide

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)continues to pose a significant threat to the world,as it continually evolves and gives rise to multiple variants and sub-variants.Recently,the Omicron EG.5 linage,which was first detected in Indonesia on 17 February 2023,has raised concerns due to its increased prevalence and extended immune escape properties,according to the risk analysis by the World Health Organization(WHO)[1].As of 3 October 2023,EG.5 and its sub-linages have been reported in 83 countries with shared 49,008 genome sequences in GISAID database(https://gisaid.org/hcov19-variants/).EG.5 has become the dominant strain in the United States according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC),accounting for 29.4%of SARS-CoV-2 infections(https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions).