WHO shares ‘impact thread’ on Omicron’s BA.2 sub-variant you shouldn’t miss

The global health body said that based on available data on transmission, severity, re-infection, diagnosis, therapeutics and effects of vaccines, the BA.2 sub-category of Omicron should be considered a variant of concern and should be treated as a COVID-19 patient. Should be classified as Omicron.

WHO further stated that re-infection with the covid-19 omicron Ba.2 has been documented following infection with Ba.1. Preliminary data from population-level reinfection studies suggest that infection with BA.1 confers strong protection against re-infection with BA.2.

WHO will continue to monitor the BA.2 lineage and has urged countries to remain vigilant, monitor and report sequences and conduct independent and comparative analyzes of different sub-lineages.

Calling on public health officials to closely monitor the variant, the WHO has said, “The BA.2 sublineage should be considered a variant of concern and classified as an omicron.”

BA.2 BA.1 . How is it different from

BA.2 differs from BA.1 in its genetic sequence, which includes some amino acid differences in the spike protein and other proteins. Several studies have shown that BA.2 has a growth advantage compared to BA.1.

WHO said that studies are underway to understand the reasons for this growth advantage, but preliminary data suggest that BA.2 spreads faster than BA.1, which is currently the most common omicron subline reported. .

However, this difference in transmissibility appears to be much smaller than the difference between BA.1 and delta.

Since first being detected in South Africa in late November 2021, Omicron has traveled around the world, causing a massive spike in cases and replacing the delta as the dominant strain. This increase in Covid infections due to Omicron is now on hold.

At the same time, the BA.2 sub-version is taking effect in Denmark, growing in the UK and elsewhere, including India and Pakistan.

“Globally, the proportion of sequences designated BA.2 has been increasing relative to BA.1 in recent weeks, although the global prevalence of all variants is reportedly declining,” the UN health agency said.

Meanwhile, a Danish study states that reinfection with the BA.2 subtype of the Omicron type of coronavirus can occur soon after initial infection with the BA.1 strain.

The researchers said that with the increase of the oomicron subvariants BA.1 and BA.2, a large number of re-infections from earlier cases have been observed.

This has raised the question of whether BA.2 in particular can evade the natural immunity acquired soon after BA.1 infection, he said.