Another New Covid Variant? Omicron Sub-Lineage BA.2 Under Investigation

New Delhi: If you thought that the world is finally about to get rid of Covid, then you were mistaken. In fact, it seems like it is far from getting over. New strains of covid, most notably the Delta variant and the Omicron variant, has popped up in some countries and subsequently spread throughout the world like wildfire.

To make things worse, another new variant has been reportedly detected in the United Kingdom.

According to a report by news agency Reuters, UK Health Officials are investigating BA.2, a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The BA.2 has been designated as a variant under investigation by the UK Health Security Agency. The health officials said that this newly discovered variant could have a growth advantage.

However, BA.2 is yet to be designated as a variant of concern. Experts have told Reuters that BA.2 is harder to easily differentiate from the Delta variant as this sub-lineage of the Omicron variant does not have the specific mutation seen in Omicron.

The UK has reported 426 cases of this new variant. Apart from the UK, most of the cases of the variant have been reported from Denmark, India, Sweden and Singapore with Denmark topping the list.

 Denmark reported a continuous surge in the number of new covid cases due to BA.2., with 45 per cent cases recorded in the second week of 2022, fueled by the sub-lineage of the Omicron variant.

The United Kingdom Health Security Agency said that 40 countries have reported cases belonging to the BA.2 sub-lineage including the nations mentioned above.

Dr Meera Chand, incident director at the UKHSA told Reuters that new variants will continue to emerge.

"It is the nature of viruses to evolve and mutate, so it's to be expected that we will continue to see new variants emerge," Chand added.

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