WHO urges researchers to investigate Omicron further

GENEVA: The BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, which some investigations suggest may be even more virulent than the original strain, had been spotted in 57 countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced.  

According to the WHO's weekly epidemiological update, the Omicron variant, which accounts for more than 93 per cent of all COVID-19 specimens received in the previous month, has several sub-lineages: BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2, and BA.3.

Although BA.1 and BA.1.1 – the initial versions identified – continue to account for over 96 per cent of all sequenced Omicron cases submitted to the public viral tracking database GISAID, BA.2, commonly referred to as a "stealth" subvariant, is likely to outmatch BA.1 across regions of Europe and Asia.

It noted that the subvariant now accounted for more than half of all sequenced Omicron cases in some nations.

The United Nations stated that little was known about the distinctions between the sub-variants and urged researchers to investigate their features, including their transmissibility, their ability to evade immune defences, and their pathogenicity.

Nonetheless, numerous recent research indicates that BA.2 is more contagious than Omicron.