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Even as Omicron BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1, it will not cause another surge, a COVID task force clarified and added that those who have been infected by BA.1 might not be infected by stealth Omicron. This comes at a time when recent lab studies indicated that the recently identified subvariant could cause as severe infections as the Delta and other variants.
BA.2 is a sub-lineage of Omicron. It's not a new virus or strain. It's a sub-lineage and will be more transmissible than BA.1 but will not cause another surge, explained Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, Co-Chairman National IMA COVID Task Force, as quoted by news agency ANI.
BA. 2 is not capable of infecting people who had BA.1, he added.
On the same topic, World Health Organisation (WHO) had pointed out that in case there is another Omicron surge, then we will see more of BA.2 cases. Also as per its characteristics, it is more transmissible than BA.2, but the severity level for both the variants is the same.
Last week, lab studies in Japan indicated that BA.2 can cause more severe infections than BA.1. The researchers said although BA.2 is considered as an Omicron variant, its genomic sequence is heavily different from BA.1. “And, this suggests that the virological characteristics of BA.2 are different from that of BA.1," the researchers from the University of Tokyo said in their study, which has been posted on the preprint repository BioRxiv but yet to be peer reviewed.
The study also said that the sub-variant does not respond to treatment like monoclonal antibody and shows immune escape properties.
The focus of the study is based on lab studies. It is important to understand here, virologists explore multiple theories and test them using certain assumptions to represent a certain attribute or the other.
While these can identify insights for where to look for threats, it is important to remember these are hypotheticals. Moreover, it should be noted here that the study is yet to be peer-reviewed.
WHO, however, has maintained all through that though Omicron may be milder than Delta, it is not a mild variant.
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