02/03/2022

The Omicron Variant Has New Versions Already

Understanding what comes next

The fast-moving omicron variant is on the wane. More than half the states in the US appear to have passed a peak in cases, and global modeling predicts the wave will wash through most of the world by the end of March.

That poses the question: What comes next? SARS-CoV-2 has already provided a near-term answer. A subvariant of Omicron called BA.2 is rapidly supplanting the first version, known as BA.1. In an assessment published last Friday, the United Kingdom’s Health Security Agency said the incidence of BA.2 there doubled in seven days. A few days before that, the Statens Serum Institut, an arm of Denmark’s health ministry, said BA.2 already accounts for almost half of that nation’s Omicron cases.

Similarly quick turnovers have been reported in most of the countries maintaining good data, according to a rapid review published on Twitter by the Pandemic Prevention Institute, a project of the Rockefeller Foundation. Its staff found the same pattern of replacement in India, Germany and Japan and other Asian nations, as well as the UK. As of January 30, according to the data dashboard Outbreak.info, BA.2 had been found in 57 countries and 29 U.S. states.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.