BY: Milton Westry
In the last two years, the world has been dealing with COVID-19. Over the past year, there have been discoveries of different variants of coronavirus. The different variants that have been discovered are Alpha, Beta, Delta and Omicron. Omicron is the latest variant and was discovered by researchers in November 2021. Now, the Omicron variant has a subvariant called BA2. The first discovery of the variant was made in Denmark. It has been found in 55 different countries, including the U.S. This discovery comes after the first subvariant of Omicron called BA1.
This subvariant has 20 mutations— more than the original Omicron variant. Even though this subvariant is not as severe, it is more transmissible according to the World Health Organization. Just recently, there were more than 50,000 reported cases of BA2 in Denmark. The cases of this variant are also on the rise in places like India, Qatar, Nepal and the Philippines. So far, there haven’t been a lot of cases of this subvariant in the U.S.
Not many people are getting severely sick after contracting this new variant. According to Dorit Nitzan, Regional Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), BA2. will become the new dominant variant of COVID-19 once it passes a certain threshold. It is known as a stealth variant because it is harder to detect if a person has contracted BA2. The WHO is looking into if people could be reinfected with this subvariant event if they have already been infected with the original Omicron strain.
People who are vaccinated are less likely to suffer severe symptoms from BA2. According to Van Kerkhove, Technical Leader of the WHO, shots remain highly effective at preventing severe disease and death, though they don’t prevent infections. The CDC’s Dr. Rochelle Walensky also confirmed this variant is not as severe nor will it evade the vaccines.
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