Omicron 2: 150% more contagious than the original variant – Not more dangerous

The Omicron sub-variant with the scientific name BA.2, also known as "stealth" or Omicron 2, which is constantly gaining ground in several countries, is not a cause for serious concern, as it is unlikely to "insidiously" create a new catastrophic epidemic. wave and change the course of the pandemic again. It does not appear to cause more serious illness or increase the risk of hospitalization, and the Covid-19 vaccine is just as effective against it as the previous variants, according to the British Health Security Agency.

But because BA.2 seems even more contagious than the original Omicron (one and a half times more than the dominant BA.1 subtype, according to Danish scientists), it can slow the decline in cases in much of the world and therefore prolong the duration of the pandemic. This is a brief overview of the scientific community for BA.2, according to reports in the New York Times and Reuters.

Possible higher case peak

"It is possible that there will be a higher incidence in places where the pandemic has not yet peaked and a slowdown in their declining trend in areas that have already passed the Omicron peak," said Dr. Thomas Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College.

BA.2 is one of the four "branches" of Omicron, along with the sub-variants BA.1 (dominant so far), BA.3 and BA.1.1.529. The first detection of Omicron was made in South Africa last November and after a few weeks it was realized that there were different versions of Omicron, each of which had some common mutations with the others, but also some mutations unique to each subspecies. The initial Omicron infections were related to BA.1, with BA.2 being rarer and BA.3 even more rare. The latter seems to have come from the infection of the same person with BA.1 and BA.2,...