Omicron Subvariant BA. 2 To Be A Variant Of Concern
The researchers concluded that the BA.2 substrain of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus would cause more severe disease than the other variants in terms of its speed at spreading and disease severity. This finding has led prominent public health scientist Dr Eric Feigl-Ding to urge the government of the United States to declare BA.2 as a ‘variant of concern’ (VoC).
Researchers led by experts from the University of Tokyo conducted the research and found the following results:
– WHO: Omicron BA.2 likely as dangerous as ‘original’
Various forms of the Omicron coronavirus variant have appeared in recent years, including BA.2, but the emerging form does not seem to be any more severe than the original BA.1, an official of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. The report was created by Tamara Lindstrom.
 (1) Infecting hamsters with BA.2 sub-strains and BA.1 sub-strains showed that BA.2 sub-strains gained more illness and developed more lung infections. It was evident from tissue samples, as researchers discovered the lungs of hamsters infected with BA.2 had more damage than those infected with BA.1.
 (2) A neutralization experiment revealed that this latest subvariant, which was detected in February this year in countries such as Denmark and the UK, is resistant to antibodies developed from vaccination against Covid-19. Omicron in its original form exhibits the same characteristic.
(3) Additionally, BA.2 was found to be resistant to antibodies among people who had been infected with the older variants of SARS-CoV-2 and was reported as being ‘almost completely resistant’ to certain monoclonal antibodies used for treating the disease.
(4) In addition, the authors stated that BA.2 has now become more competitive than BA.1. They believe that this indicates the latter is more transmissible than the original Omicron.Â
 (5) The researchers noted that although the BA.2 sub-strain was considered a variant of Omicron, a close analysis of its genomic sequence showed a considerable difference from that of BA.1. Researchers concluded that these differences indicate that both sub-strains differ in their virological properties.
(6) As of last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that although BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1, it does not prove to be more dangerous.
(7) The first cases of Omicron were discovered in South Africa and Botswana in November last year. The BA.1 subvariant has been found in several other countries since then and has also outcompeted some of the earlier variants, such as Delta.
In a Japanese study led by researchers from the University of Tokyo, it was concluded that the BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant spreads faster and causes more severe disease than other versions.
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 The emergence of another form of Coronavirus has become a matter of concern for several scientists and experts around the world. In particular, the Omicron subvariant BA.2, the new strain of Covid-19 that is capable of causing serious illness much like the Delta variant, has received warnings from experts. Scientists from the University of Tokyo have found that the Omicron coronavirus subvariant BA.2 appears to be not only faster spreading but may also cause more severe diseases than the other subvariants.
Dr Eric Feigl-Ding, a public health scientist from the United States, has therefore suggested to the World Health Organization (WHO) that the new Omicron sub-variant must be classified as a variant of concern.
On Twitter, Eric wrote, “Worrisome-New lab experiments from Japan show that #BA2 may carry the potential to cause serious disease just like older variants of the bacterium…including Delta! And yet it is as evasive as its “Omicron cousin” BA2. BA.2 surging-needs to be upgraded to VOC as soon as possible.”.
According to the Japanese study, the BA.2 sub-strain of the Omicron variant has these characteristics:
1. Researchers with the Japanese Institute of Tropical Medicine have published a paper on the preprint repository BioRxiv that suggests the BA.2 sub-variant could cause serious illness just as other older Coronavirus variants have. The paper is yet to be peer-reviewed.
2. Likewise, the study’s findings indicate that the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron largely escapes the immune response induced by the Covid-19 vaccination.
3. The vaccine-induced humoral immunity does not function against BA.2 as it does against BA.1.
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While BA.2 is more contagious than BA.1, the WHO said the subvariant still does not pose a greater threat.
As a whole, BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1, but there are no differences among the subvariants in terms of severity, “covid-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhova said in a video.
Furthermore, a South African study found that a sub-variant of the Omicron BA.2 resembles that of the original strain. Despite the new subvariant infecting similar numbers of patients, researchers found that patients who suffered severe disease and hospitalization suffered the same fate as those who contracted the original omicron strain.
Despite this, researchers caution that South Africa may differ from other locations because most immunity originates from previous Covid infections rather than vaccinations.
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Health experts say that despite India reporting a high number of Omicron BA.2 cases, we should not be alarmed as it will not lead to another COVID-19 trend in the country.
The co-chair of the National IMA COVID Task Force, Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, told ANI that the BA.2 is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant that reportedly sparked the third wave in the country.
He says that BA.2 is ineffective in infecting people who have had BA.1 sub-variant of COVID-19 previously.
Dr Jayadevan explained that BA.2 cannot infect those who have been exposed to BA.1. “It’s not a new virus; it’s a sub-lineage of Omicron,” he added.
Further, the Expert stated that BA.2 will be more transmissible than BA.1 and will continuously evolve to increase its fitness, thereby enabling it to infect more people and to surpass natural immunity and vaccinated immunity. B.A.2 is a little more transmissible than B.A.1. For the past two years, it has increased its ability to jump past natural immunity and vaccinated immunity,” he added.
Furthermore, Dr Jayadevan said that the Omicron variant demonstrated how vaccine immunity can be “easily surpassed by variants” and this trend will continue to be seen for the foreseeable future should new variants emerge from mutations of the virus.
Omicron demonstrated that even vaccine immunity can be easily defeated by variants, and this is something to expect in the future as new variants come into play. However, BA.1 and BA.2 possess immune escape ability which means if you have been naturally infected or even vaccinated, you can still get this virus,” he said.
Dr Jayadevan explained that BA.2 is a sub-lineage of Omicron and is largely the same as the Omicron that was identified in November in South Africa. BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3 now make up this sub-lineage.
Furthermore, he said that virus will be around for a long time to come.
“Viruses are going to persist. They will come in ups and downs for a long time. When the next variant comes, there will be a surge. We do not know when that will be, but history says it will probably happen every six to eight months. This is the way it usually behaves.”
Meanwhile, we are in phase Omicron of the low phase. However, what we must always remember is that this virus is spreading around, which means we must do our best not to let it infect us,” he said.
Dr Jayadevan cited a study conducted on hamsters in Japan that suggested BA.2 may be the cause of severe lung disease in humans.
Currently, symptoms of Omicron are the same for BA.1 and BA.2. So, there is no difference according to severity. However, there has been a study done on hamsters that showed that BA.2 affected the lungs more than BA.1.
His findings of Omicron BA.2 cases globally were that “it is believed that BA.2 is on the rise in India. But in several other Asian countries in the region and across Europe, prevalence is growing slowly, especially in Denmark. There is also a small rise in the United States and also in Britain.”.
edited and proofread by nikita sharmaÂ
