The new sub-variable Omicron raises questions and is closely monitored by scientists

A new sub-variant of Omicron, released a few weeks ago, is raising questions and is being closely monitored by scientists, according to AFP and Reuters, which was acquired by Agerpres.

Although the new sub-variable “does not change the problem data”, according to the French Minister of Health, its exact properties, which are still not fully known, raise some questions.

the name of the thing Bachelor 2, this sub-variable has been detected in many countries of the world, especially in Europe.

“New variables appear quite regularly,” Olivier Veran, France’s health minister, said at a press conference Thursday evening.

„As far as we know, the new sub-variable is more or less consistent with the features we know about Omicron. Do not change the problem data at this pointThe French minister added.

Like the delta variant before it, the Omicron variant, as it spread more and more in the world, has given rise to “smaller brothers”, sub-variants containing one or two mutations in relation to their original genomes.

At the moment, the exact characteristics of the new subvariable have not been analyzed. But some medical data catch the attention of specialists: BA.2 is said to have become the majority in Denmark, where the number of daily COVID-19 cases has started to rise again in recent days..

The World Health Organization (WHO), which has included Omicron in the category of “concern”, does not distinguish at this point between the original Omicron variant and the BA.2 sub variant.

“We have an international situation in which the Omicron version is being circulated a lot and it is natural to note that over time the emergence of sub-variables,” Saint-Public France news agency said in a statement on Friday.

“What we are interested in is whether they have different characteristics in terms of infection, avoidance of immune response and risk,” the French agency said.

So far, the new sub-variable has already been detected in France, “but at very low levels”.

In turn, in Denmark, it gradually replaced BA.1, the “classic” Omicron variant.

“The Danish authorities do not have an explanation for this phenomenon, but they are monitoring it very actively,” said specialists from Agency Public France. For their part, experts in France are “closely following the data obtained in Denmark”.

For its part, the British Health Security Agency (UKSHA) announced on Friday that it had included the new sub-variable Omicron in the category of “variables under investigation”, Reuters reports.

BA.2, which does not exhibit a specific mutation, as observed in the Omicron variant and has been distinguished from the Delta variant, is being investigated by British scientists, but is not classified as a ‘variable of concern’.

“It is in the nature of viruses to evolve and develop mutations, so it was expected that we would continue to see the emergence of new mutations,” said Mira Chand, UKHSA’s Director of Virology.

The British expert himself, a microbiologist, added, “Our continuous monitoring of the virus genome (SARS-CoV-2, No.) allows us to discover new sub-variants and analyze them to see if they are important.”

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