Written By: Satata Karmakar | Published : April 12, 2022 5:00 PM IST
New Omicron Variant BA.4 and BA.5 Detected In Botswana Can Infect Fully Vaccinated
At a time when the world is on alert due to the two highly contagious strains of Omicron, namely BA.1 and BA.2, the Botswana (South Africa) Health Ministry has warned that there are cases of a new sub-variant or lineage of Omicron - BA.4 and BA.5.
According to the latest report, four fully vaccinated people have been reportedly experiencing symptoms associated with this new strain. "We are constantly monitoring the patients. They have mild symptoms of the new variant," a health worker was quoted as saying. This new sub-variant which has been designated as Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 has already been detected in three other countries.
New Omicron BA.4 & BA.5 were detected in South Africa, Botswana, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and the U.K. Early indications that these new sublineages are increasing as a share of genomically confirmed cases in SA. No cause for alarm as no major spike in cases, admissions or deaths in SA pic.twitter.com/PrcBWpVWtl
Tulio de Oliveira (@Tuliodna) April 11, 2022
The Omicron variant of coronavirus, which was first detected in South Africa in November 2021 has led to a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in many countries. It is so far the most mutated version of the virus, which can infect fully vaccinated individuals. The virus variant has two more variants - BA.1 and BA.2 which are on the rise globally.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the BA.2 sub-lineage of Omicron is now the globally dominant strain, which is present in nearly 94 per cent of all the samples tested.
(With inputs from IANS)
