‘Stealth Omicron’: All you need to know about fast-spreading sub-strain

Posted by harsh sultayia on January 22nd, 2022

Sub-strain BA.2 Omicron was detected in November last year, but began to spread recently in recent weeks. The situation is very bad in Denmark, where Covid-19 infection has experienced a rapid increase.

The new sub-variants of Omicron have raised fears that the more transmitting Coronavirus strains can trigger a larger Covid-19 wave globally.

Health authorities in the UK have established sub-variants, called BA.2, as \'variants in investigations\'. This is an initial investigation step before being appointed as a \'variant of concern\' (VOC), which is currently Omicron BA.1 at this time.

Sub-lineage, nicknamed the \'stealth omicron\', was appointed in early December last year and on January 10 this year, 53 BA 2 sequences have been identified in the UK.

How many doses of the sub-strain have the Omicron variant?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Omicron variant has three sub-strains: BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3. Furthermore said that as many as 99 percent of cases were sorted by containing sub-strain BA.1.

What then said that knowledge of B.1.1.529 is still developing, but this lineage is more diverse.

But now, more sub-variants have emerged, especially in one of the worst affected areas by the spread of Covid-19, Europe.

Where are the cases of BA.2 sub-variants detected?

Apart from England, BA.2 has been found in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Scientists in France and India also warn about the rapid spread of sub-variants of BA.2, which is expected to exceed other omicron strains.

This situation is very bad in Denmark where BA2 has changed from accounting 20 percent of cases to 45 percent between the end of December and mid-January.

Denmark has reported more than 30,000 cases this week, 10 times more than the peak in the previous Covid-19 wave.

BA.2 vs. BA.1 vs. BA.3

The researchers have pointed to possible reasons why new sub-strains are expected to be the dominant cause of Covid-19 in the coming months.

Vipin M Vashishhtha, a member of the WHO\'s Vaccine Safety Net, said on Twitter that BA2 shared 32 mutations with BA.1 but also had 28 unique mutations themselves.

Sub-strain BA.3 may be similar to BA.1 because he shares mutations on 417, 446, 484 and other main sites, adding Vashishtha.

However, Denmark said that it was too early to find out what the mutation means BA.2. \"So far there is no information about whether BA.1 and BA.2 have different properties,\" said Staten Serum Institute, a research center of infectious diseases managed by the government.

The Danish government also said that their initial analysis showed no difference in hospitalization for BA.2 compared to BA.1. The government announced that it relieved restrictions because the number of people who needed intensive care declined.

Why is it called \'stealth omicron\'?

When scientists found the Omicron variant, they noted that the original tension - BA.1 - had a mutation in the form of deletion on \"S\" or a surge gene detected by the PCR test. Sub-strain BA.2, however, does not have the same mutation, because called \'stealth omicron\'.

But in recent weeks, many experts claim that sub-strains appear on PCR tests. \"BA.2 _IS_ Detected by PCR, this news report is completely wrong. Depending on the PCR test used may not look like BA.1 (Omicron other). But it will still give positive results. Frustrating to see falsehood about non-detection Still around, \"Cornelius Roemer, a computational biologist at the University of Basel Swiss, said on Twitter.

But BA.2 is currently in the news, according to the Virology of the College of the London Empire Tom Peacock, because it has shown growth in various countries, which is proof that BA.2 may be some degree more contagious than BA.1