It seems like a mere week ago that we were talking about the last new variant - because it was only a week ago.

Move over Eris, there's a new variant in town: Pirola. 

Unlike most of the recent strains going around, this one branched off further back in the Omicron family tree. 

But what of the usual questions: is it better at evading immunity? Does it cause worse disease? How do I protect myself? Also, how normal is it for a virus to mutate this much? Is it really moving this quickly, or is just because we're watching it so closely? 

That's on this week's Coronacast.