The UK health authorities on Friday said they will be conducting further analysis into a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 after designating it a variant under investigation (VUI).
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which monitors data related to the pandemic, said the sub-lineage known as BA.2 shows a low number of cases in the country, with the original Omicron lineage BA.1 still dominant.
A VUI designation is the initial step of investigation before being designated a variant of concern (VOC), which the original Omicron BA.1 currently is.
“The Omicron variant sub-lineage known as BA.2 has been designated as a variant under investigation,” UKHSA said.
“The number of BA.2 cases is currently low, with the original Omicron lineage, BA.1, still dominant in the UK and further analyses will now be undertaken. UKHSA are continuing to monitor data on the BA.2 sub-lineage closely,” it said. The sub-lineage was designated in early December last year and as of January 10 this year, 53 sequences of BA.2 had been identified in the UK.
“It is in the nature of viruses to evolve and mutate, so it’s to be expected that we will continue to see new variants emerge as the pandemic goes on,” said Dr Meera Chand, UKHSA Incident Director.
“Our continued genomic surveillance allows us to detect them and assess whether they are significant. Case rates remain high throughout the UK and we must remain vigilant and take up vaccinations,” she said.
The UKHSA update comes as the UK recorded another 107,364 Covid-19 infections on Thursday, after having dropped below the 100,000 mark in recent days. The health agency said there is now “high confidence” that the Omicron variant causes low severity of disease in adults. However, confidence levels for severity indicators for children are low because further analysis is required to compare the risk of hospitalisation between Omicron and Delta, and to assess the clinical nature of illness in children.
Source: PTI