WHO: OMICRON SUB-VARIANT FOUND IN 57 COUNTRIES; ‘PREMATURE TO DECLARE VICTORY’

Wed 02 February 2022:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning about a sub-variant of the extremely contagious coronavirus Omicron (COVID-19).

According to WHO, the sub-variant is significantly more contagious than the original version, and it has been found in at least 57 countries so far.

The Omicron variant was discovered in November of last year and has since become a dominant variety, causing a dramatic increase in the number of cases globally.

However, some experts claimed that despite being highly infectious, the fast-spreading and heavily mutated Omicron variant is not that lethal as compared to Delta.

The variant, which makes up over 93 percent of all coronavirus specimens collected in the last month, has several sub-lineages, according to WHO’s weekly epidemiological update: BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2, and BA.3.

The global health agency added that there has been a clear rise in cases involving BA.2. As per the agency, the mentioned sub-variant BA.2. counts several different mutations from the original, including on the spike protein that dots the virus’s surface and is key to entering human cells.

“BA.2- designated sequences have been submitted to GISAID from 57 countries to date,” WHO said. Important to note that several recent studies have hinted that BA.2 is more infectious than the original Omicron.

The UN health agency said little was known yet about the differences between the sub-variants, and called for studies into its characteristics, including its transmissibility, how good it is at dodging immune protections and its virulence.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “It’s premature for any country either to surrender, or to declare victory. This virus is dangerous, and it continues to evolve before our very eyes. WHO is currently tracking four sub-lineages of the Omicron variant of concern, including BA.2”

“Since Omicron was first identified just 10 weeks ago, almost 90 million cases have been reported to WHO – more than were reported in the whole of 2020. We are now starting to see a very worrying increase in deaths, in most regions of the world,” he added.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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