No sign that Omicron subvariant very different from original strain

Portfolio
South Africa is seeing more cases of the BA.2 sub-variant of the Omicron coronavirus variant and is monitoring it, but there is no clear sign that BA.2 is substantially different from the original Omicron strain, Reuters cited a senior scientist as saying on Friday.
omikron

Michelle Groome, from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, showed in a presentation that BA.2 accounted for 23% of the 450 samples from January sequenced by South Africa's genomic surveillance network and the original strain 75%.

Of the 2,243 samples from December that were sequenced, BA.2 accounted for 4% and the original strain 94%.

At this stage, there is no indication that there would be ... differences between these different sub-lineages of Omicron,

she said.

"As we saw with Delta there were lots of lineages and we didn't see a lot of difference between them, but we will keep monitoring," she added.

Asked whether there were signs BA.2 was causing different symptoms, she said she was not expecting marked changes. Scientists will analyse hospitalisation data for clues about the severity of illness linked to the sub-variant, said Groome.

Health Minister Joe Phaahla said the country was not out of the fourth wave and there could be a fifth wave closer to winter. He said the past two weeks had been a bit of a "stalemate" in terms of new cases.

Cover photo: Getty Images

 

More in Economy

tej
September 19, 2025 16:03

Small dairy farms in Hungary are ceasing milk production almost daily

2,800-3,000 farms remained out of tens of thousands

D_MTI20250912001
September 19, 2025 12:20

Hungary's Orbán keeps beating Tisza Party's horse named 'Tax'

Poor 'Tax' is not dead, it never even existed

magyar gazdaság, magyar válság, magyar gdp, hősök tere
September 19, 2025 10:40

Credit boom in emerging economies, but Hungary is at the bottom of the ranking

Corporate lending has become the cornerstone of growth, which is why investment in Hungary is going so badly

GettyImages-1170657395-család-életkor-idősek-magány-nyugdíjas-otthon-öregedés-pénz-szegénység-társadalom
September 19, 2025 09:09

Hungarian pensioners fear impoverishment despite pension adjustments

More and more people find themselves in difficult financial situations

varga mihály mnb elnök jegybankelnök
September 18, 2025 13:37

Hungary has never had so much foreign currency reserves - What happened?

Forint buyers chill in August

4S6A0625
September 18, 2025 11:30

A digital Cold War is raging around the world, Europe may be left behind in this enormous battle

Economy Ministry State Secretary speaks at Portfolio conference

LATEST NEWS
Charting is displayed using TradingView's technology, a platform, where you can build advanced charts, spot upcoming trends in the stock screener, and find inspiration in multiple trading ideas

Detailed search