New Cases of Omicron Sub-Variant Detected

In Israel 20 cases of a new sub-variant of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID have been detected.

While scientists were concerned about the new development, the danger posed by the new sub-variant is still uncertain.

Omicron Variant Raises Death Rates Despite COVID-19 Vaccination
Outbreak of the new Omicron variant has resulted in a massive surge of the COVID-19 cases alongside the rising number of COVID-related fatalities despite vaccination.

‘The sub-variant, known as BA.2, was discovered during genetic sequencing of COVID patients. It contains more mutations than the original Omicron and may be more violent.’

According to Israel's Health Ministry, there was no evidence that BA.2 behaved differently than Omicron, Jerusalem Post reported.

BA.2 was first seen in China a few weeks ago, and is suspected to have originated in India. It has also been observed in Denmark, Australia, Canada and Singapore, state media Kan reported.

Israel has in the past week seen a new record of virus carriers, increasing from 12,000 a day to 48,000.

WHO Says Omicron Rapidly Replacing Delta in Almost All Countries
The Omicron COVID variant drives a massive spike in coronavirus infections across countries. According to Ghebreyesus, the overwhelming majority of people admitted to hospitals around the world are unvaccinated.

The number of serious patients, while still limited, has also started to increase. There were 283 patients on Thursday compared with 136 a week earlier.

In addition, 284 new patients were classified as serious over the previous seven days, marking an increase of 189 per cent over the previous week, the Post reported.

COVID-19 Vaccines Effective Against Severe Hospitalization Caused by Omicron
COVID-19 vaccination was found to be effective against severe disease and hospitalization caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant.

However, as the Omicron causes only mild disease, the general situation of patients appears to be much better than in previous waves.

According to the World Health Organization, the Omicron variant (parent Pango lineage B.1.1.529) includes three descendent lineages (BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3). While BA.1 and BA.3 have the 69-70 deletion in the spike protein, BA.2 does not.

WHO Says 50% of Europe Will Get Omicron Infection Within Weeks
Within the next six to eight weeks, about 50% of the European population will contract Omicron, warned the World Health Organization (WHO).

Recently, scientists at Department of Biotechnology's Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) in India also noted the significant presence of both BA.1 and BA.2 in genone tests conducted in the country.

BA.1, in particular, has been co-circulating with Delta and also replacing it in Maharashtra and several other states. BA.3 has not been detected so far in the country, media reports said.

Source-IANS