Coronavirus appears to have refused to go down despite wreaking havoc for the past two years. The spread of a sub-variant of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of coronavirus has increased the number of cases in various parts of the world. BA.2 is the name of the sub-COVID-19-variant.
What is the BA.2 variant?
Amid the Omicron outbreak, British health officials had noticed an increase in instances of the BA.2 strain.
BA.2 is also famous as the “stealth variant” since it is slightly more difficult to track. Due to a missing gene, BA.1 is monitored using a standard PCR test. BA.3, unlike BA.2 and another sibling, can only be discovered through genetic sequencing.
BA.2 now accounts for 86 percent of all sequenced cases
BA.2 now accounts for roughly 86 percent of all sequenced cases, according to the World Health Organization. Other sub-variants, such as BA.1 and BA.1.1, are less transmissible. However, current evidence suggests that it is less likely to cause serious infections.
Vaccines against BA.2 are also less effective. A booster jab, according to UK Health Security Agency data, restores protection, notably for reducing hospitalization and death.
Reinfections
One of the main concerns regarding BA.2 was whether it could re-infect persons who already had BA.1, especially since several nations appeared to be experiencing “double peaks” in infection rates that were shockingly close together. Omicron can reinfect people who had other variants, such as Delta. But just a few of BA.2 reinfections in people who had BA.1 have been out so far among tens of thousands of cases, according to data from the UK and Denmark.
According to scientists, a plausible explanation for the recent spike in BA.2 could be because the global uptick coincided with several countries’ lifting of public health efforts.
Global picture of the BA.2 variant
BA.2 has been responsible for recent outbreaks in China, as well as record infections in Germany and the United Kingdom. However, in certain European countries, the rate of new cases is already slowing or even declining.