LONDON: A subtype of Omicron COVID, BA.4.6, which is rapidly gaining traction in the US, has now been confirmed to be spreading in the UK.
Latest Briefing Documents on COVID variants The UK Health Protection Agency (UKHSA) said that during the week starting 14 August, BA.4.6 of samples in the UK were 3.3 per cent. Similarly, BA.4.6 now accounts for more than 9 percent of recent cases across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The variant has also been identified in several other countries around the world.
What do we know about BA.4.6, and should we be concerned?
1) BA.4.6 is a descendant of omicron’s BA.4 variant.
2) BA.4 was first detected in South Africa in January 2022 and has since spread around the world with the BA.5 variant.
3) It is not entirely clear how BA.4.6 emerged, but it is possible that it may be a recombinant variant.
4) While BA.4.6 will be similar to BA.4 in many ways, it carries mutations in the spike protein, a protein on the surface of the virus that allows it to enter our cells.
5) This mutation, R346T, has been seen in other variants and is associated with immune evasion, meaning it helps the virus evade antibodies obtained from vaccination and prior infection.
6) Fortunately, Omicron infections generally cause less severe disease, and we have seen fewer deaths from Omicron than before.
7) In fact, so far there have been no reports that this variant is causing more severe symptoms.
8) BA.4.6 appears to be even better at evading the immune system than BA.5, which is currently the dominant form. Although this information is based on a preprint (a study that has yet to be peer reviewed), other emerging data supports it.
9) The University of Oxford has reported that people who received three doses of Pfizer’s original COVID vaccine produced fewer antibodies in response to BA.4.6 compared to BA.4 or BA.5. This is worrying because it suggests that COVID vaccines may be less effective against BA.4.6.
10) The rise of BA.4.6 and other new forms is related. But vaccination continues to provide good protection against serious illness, and is still the best weapon we have to fight COVID.
With inputs from PTI
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