WHO monitoring 4 Omicron sub variants

It is too early to declare victory against the coronavirus as there are four subvariants of the highly infectious omicron variant currently circulating even as the World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring more subvariants.

Specifically, the WHO is watching the BA.1.1, BA.2, and BA.3 variations of the Omicron variants, 

“This virus is dangerous, and it continues to evolve before our very eyes,” said WHO Chief, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus. "The WHO is currently tracking four sub-lineages of the Omicron variant of concern, including BA.2.” 

Preliminary findings seem to indicate that BA.2 is more transmissible, but not more virulent than the original Omicron.

Tedros and other WHO officials sought have warned countries not to let their guards down, particularly with respect to Omicron. 

“BA.2-designated sequences have been submitted to GISAID from 57 countries to date, with the weekly proportion of BA.2 relative to other Omicron sequences rising to over 50% during the last six weeks in several countries.”

Epidemiologists say it’s early days in terms of understanding BA.2, much less BA.1.1 and BA.3, about which very little information is available.

The WHO COVID-19 Technical Lead, Maria Van Kerkhove, said that, since BA.2 is Omicron, it is a variant of concern. The two subvariants of omicron have been spreading throughout the world, raising concerns that the corona

“We still don’t know everything about the variants and the future trajectory of that. Omicron is becoming dominant worldwide. It’s overtaking Delta in a number of countries around the world.”