Omicron BA.2 spreading faster than BA.1: Africa CDC reveals vital data

“South Africa is reporting that it is more transmissible than the BA.1 variant, but interestingly and very encouragingly, the severity is similar,” said Dr John Nkengsong, head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

South Africa was one of the first countries to detect the Omicron version of COVID-19, which has since spread around the world and dominated most places.

Although South Africa is at the peak of its omicron wave, its daily number of new infections has stabilized at around 3,000 per day, higher than the level seen at the tail end of previous waves of COVID-19 infections.

Omicron BA.2 . But what did the Japanese study say?

There are three important things about the subvariant ba, 2, also known as stealth omicron, that the Japanese team has identified – ba.2 may have characteristics that enable it to cause severe disease. , it shows the same immunity-avoiding properties as the sub-variant. BA.1. In addition the stealth is resistant to treatments such as Omicron monoclonal antibodies.

Noting that such studies (Japanese laboratory studies) are extremely important in looking for signs of severity, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that preprints suggest that BA.2 can cause serious infections in hamsters. Is. But, similar studies among humans have shown that both subtypes have similar severity levels.

WHO, however, continues to believe that while Omicron may be lighter than Delta, it is not.

The WHO also reported that all other coronavirus cases, including alpha, beta and delta, continue to decline globally as Omicron knocks them out. Meanwhile, subvariant BA.2 appears to be “continuously increasing” and its prevalence has increased in South Africa, Denmark, the UK and other countries.