Officials Warn of New Omicron 'Sub-Variant' in Pandemic That Never Ends
As the dastardly delta variant gave way to the omnipresent and less-potent omicron strain, many began to believe that we had beaten coronavirus into submission. It was flaming out, so to speak, making ever-weaker evolutionary maneuvers as it faced a wall of immunity in the human population, with antibodies both natural and lab-made now out in abundance among the population.
But no. Of course not. Instead, we’re being bombarded with a new twist to the tale, and an entirely new branch of trouble: Sub-variants.
Health officials around the world are closely monitoring a new Omicron subvariant that has been found in at least 40 countries, including nearly 100 cases in the US.
Advertisement - story continues belowThe variant, BA.2, is one of at least four descendants of Omicron that has been detected, and it has already become the dominant form of the virus in Denmark.
It is widely being dubbed “stealth Omicron” because of a genetic trait that makes it harder to detect.
And, of course, officials have a warning.
The World Health Organization notes that BA.2 “is increasing in many countries” amid concerns it could be even more infectious than the initial Omicron strain, BA.1.
Advertisement - story continues below“Investigations into the characteristics of BA.2, including immune escape properties and virulence, should be prioritized independently (and comparatively) to BA.1,” the group said.
Just when we thought it might be safe to get back into the swing of things, COVID-19 throws us another curveball.
