Experts are worried a new subvariant of Omicron could see a devastating surge in infections and deaths around the world just as the pandemic appears to be retreating.
Eric Feigl-Ding, a Harvard-trained epidemiologist who was among the first researchers to sound the alarm about the seriousness of Covid-19, wrote that the subvariant — BA.2 — is “seriously bad news”.
“Even the World Health Organisation is getting very concerned about BA.2 variant outcompeting and displacing old Omicron,” he wrote on social media.
He wrote that news out of Denmark, where the subvariant represents 90 per cent of all new cases, suggests it is having significant health impacts.
“Here is what is happening in the country with the most BA.2 variant so far. (Denmark) has been BA.2 dominant for weeks and have now almost no mitigations either … now their excess deaths are spiking again.”
Dr. Feigl-Ding shared a table showing the gap between those dying because of Covid-19 and those simply dying with the virus was widening, and a separate graph from John Hopkins University, shared last week, that showed a major surge in deaths since November 1, 2020.
8) here is what is happening in the country with the most #BA2 variant so far.., 🇩🇰 has been BA2 dominant for weeks and have now almost no mitigations either… now their excess deaths are spiking again… https://t.co/tAV4u277Ol
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) February 19, 2022
Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organisation’s Technical Lead on Covid-19, spoke along similar lines.
“We already know that Omicron has a growth advantage … compared to other variants of concern. But we know that BA.2 has a growth advantage even over BA.1.”
“This virus continues to be dangerous. This virus transmits very efficiently between people but there’s a lot that you can do.
“We need to drive transmission down. Because if we don’t, we will not only see more cases, more hospitalisations, more deaths, but we will see more people suffering from Long Covid and we will see more opportunities for new variants to emerge.
“So it’s a very dangerous situation that we’re in, three years in.”
After an Omicron surge that lasted for three-and-a-half months, the average number of global daily cases dropped for a third week in a row last week, falling back by 22 per cent to 1.97 million
But lab work out of Japan reveals there is still some cause for concern.
A study led by Kei Sato from the University of Tokyo was posted online on Wednesday but has not yet been peer reviewed.
In the study, which exposed hamsters to different variants, Sato writes: “The viral RNA load in the lung periphery and histopathological disorders of BA.2 were more severe than those of BA.1 and even B.1.1.
“Together with a higher effective reproduction number and pronounced immune resistance of BA.2, it is evident that the spread of BA.2 can be a serious issue for global health in the near future.
“In summary, our data suggests the possibility that BA.2 would be the most concerning variant to global health. Currently, both BA.2 and BA.1 are recognised together as Omicron and these are almost undistinguishable.
“Based on our findings, we propose that BA.2 should be recognised as a unique variant of concern, and this SARS-CoV-2 variant should be monitored in depth.”
Sato told CNN the subvariant needs to be more closely monitored.
Authored by Rohan Smith via News.com.au
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