A new sub-variant of Omicron has sparked fears that a more contagious strain of the coronavirus could spark a larger wave of Covid-19 across the globe.
UK health authorities have designated a sub-variant called BA.2 as “variant under investigation”. This is an initial investigative step before being designated a “variant of interest” (VOC), as is currently the case with the original Omicron BA.1.
The sub-lineage, known as the “stealth Omicron”, was designated in early December last year, and as of January 10 this year, 53 BA.2 sequences have been found in the UK.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Omicron variant has three substrains: BA.1, BA.2, and BA.3. It further stated that as many as 99% of the sequenced cases were found to contain the BA.1 substrain.
WHO further stated that knowledge about B.1.1.529 is still developing, but the lineage is more diverse.
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
