New Omicron Variant Found In S’pore, Findings Show BA.2 To Be More Contagious

198 Cases Of New BA.2 Omicron Sub-Variant Found In Singapore

Singapore is currently in the midst of an Omicron wave, with daily cases exceeding 5,000 over recent days.

On Friday (28 Jan), the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported an interesting development — a sub-variant of the Omicron strain had been detected among cases in Singapore.

Known as the BA.2 sub-variant, 198 of such cases have been detected in Singapore as of 25 Jan. The majority of these cases are imported from overseas.

BA.2 variant more contagious than Omicron

According to a report by Channel NewsAsia (CNA), a total of 48 local and 150 imported cases in Singapore have the new BA.2 Omicron sub-variant.

According to the Danish Health Minister, the sub-variant is more contagious than the more common BA.1 variant.

Statens Serum Institut, a Danish research institution, found in preliminary studies that the BA.2 sub-variant is about 1.5 times more infectious than the BA.1 strain.

However, there reportedly appears to be no significant difference between the 2 variants in terms of clinical outcomes.

The BA.2 Omicron sub-variant recently took over as the dominant strain in Denmark.

2% of all cases in Singapore come from BA.2 strain

Given its relatively fresh emergence, investigations are still ongoing to find out more about the new strain.

However, the sub-variant has quickly toppled its predecessor, the Omicron BA.1, in Denmark. BA.2 has been the dominant strain in the country since the first week of January.

According to Outbreak.info, Singapore is third globally in terms of BA.2 cases, standing at 2% of all Covid-19 cases since the variant was first identified in our nation.

Hope MOH has the situation under control

Although we expect to face mutations of the Covid-19 virus, it’s disheartening to see yet another strain coming into prominence.

Let’s hope the sub-variant isn’t a cause for concern and that it wouldn’t be yet another stumbling block in this prolonged pandemic.

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Featured images by MS News.