ACROSS AMERICA — A new subtype of the omicron coronavirus variant, known as BA.2, has been reported in 40 countries worldwide, including the United States, but it’s unclear yet if it’s more of a concern than its highly transmissible parent.
BA.2 doesn’t appear to be “a variant of concern,” the World Health Organization said this week, offering some potentially good news to a world worn out by a pandemic about to mark its second anniversary.
A variant within a variant, it’s sometimes called “stealth omicron” because some of the genetic traits aren’t as easily seen as the parent omicron variant, known as BA.1, in diagnostic tests.
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And health experts aren’t sure what BA.2 portends, if it will fuel another surge of COVID-19 infections as the parent variant did, or if lockdowns and social distancing measures will be needed to control its spread.
“The BA. 2 descendant lineage, which differs from BA.1 in some of the mutations, including in the spike protein, is increasing in many countries,” the WHO wrote on its website. “Investigations into the characteristics of BA.2, including immune escape properties and virulence, should be prioritized independently (and comparatively) to BA.1.”
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Here are things to know about the subvariant:
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