The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the new Omicron sub-variants (BA.4 and BA.5) are not significantly different from prior Omicron sub-lineages in terms of epidemiology or severity. This, however, could all change! This occurs at a time when the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant is leading a huge COVID outbreak in areas of Asia and Europe.
South African scientists announced the discovery of two new sublineages this week: BA.4 and BA.5. Tulio de Oliveira, who leads the country’s gene-sequencing institutions, stated, however, that the lineages had not resulted in an increase in infections in South Africa. The subvariants have been found in South Africa, Botswana, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom so far.
“Given the very low infections, hospitalizations and deaths in South Africa we are alerted about the continued evolution but not concerned,” de Oliveira said. “All of the laboratory science on virus neutralization and vaccines are already under way and we are strengthening genomic surveillance.”
The sub-variants have already been noted by the WHO. In a tweet, WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove said, “We haven’t observed any differences in the epidemiology or severity of BA.4 or BA.5 compared to earlier Omicron sub-lineages.” This, however, could change!
"So far, we haven't detected any changes in the epidemiology or severity of BA.4 or BA.5 compared to previous sub-lineages of #Omicron," says @WHO's @mvankerkhove.
But this may change. "That's why we need to have experts around the 🌎 working with us to track this in real time." pic.twitter.com/2usIbFWgia
— Global Health Strategies (@GHS) April 13, 2022
Omicron returns, WHO warns
This comes as the WHO’s COVID-19 emergency committee unanimously declared on Wednesday that COVID remains a severe public health threat. They also say
For the third week in a row, the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths decreased globally in the week leading up to Sunday. However, other countries continue to record significant increases in cases, placing hospitals under strain. The World Health Organization also stated that governments must not get complacent.
Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted. That the pandemic is still ongoing, saying, “This virus has become more transmissible over time. And it remains lethal, especially for the unprotected and unvaccinated who lack access to health care and antivirals.”
The WHO leader advised everyone to be vaccinated and follow COVID guidelines.
The Omicron variant accounted for 99.2 percent of samples sequenced. And uploaded to the GISAID global science programme in the last 30 days. According to the WHO, with the previously dominating Delta variant accounting for less than 0.1 percent.
