What is BA.2 and how dangerous is this variant of the coronavirus?
Subvariants of omikron
The omikron variant of the coronavirus is currently most common in the Netherlands. That means that most people who test positive for the virus have this variant among their members. Since the virus made its appearance, no variant has spread as quickly as omikron. And then there are also the BA sub-variants: BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3. “In a subvariant, the virus has also mutated, but only slightly. BA.2 is therefore still omikron, but slightly different,” explains Harald Wychel of the RIVM. RTL News.
BA.1
BA.1 is currently the dominant omikron variant in the Netherlands, according to the RIVM website. BA.2 was also found at the end of 2021 and the share of this variant has been increasing since then. “This picture is also seen in neighboring countries, where BA.2 is already the most infecting omikron variant in some countries,” according to RIVM. BA.3 has not yet been found in the Netherlands and is only found ‘sporadically’ worldwide.
BA.2 more contagious than ‘normal’ omikron
BA.2 now seems to be increasing a lot faster, RIVM reports. Exactly how this happens is still under investigation. If a new variant is more contagious than the dominant variant, it will eventually gain the upper hand. That is now happening in Denmark, for example. Based on the data from Denmark, it appears that BA.2 is more contagious than the ‘normal’ omikron virus. About half of all infections in the Scandinavian country are BA.2, which means that this subvariant is already more dominant there than here.
Effect corona vaccine
It is not yet known whether BA.2 has an effect on the effectiveness of the corona vaccine. Because the variant is hardly there yet, there is not much to say about it yet. Harald Wychel: “But the vaccines we now have are not aimed at omikron, but actually still target the old Wuhan type of the virus. That’s why we started boosting.”
Healthcare answers: has the Netherlands underestimated corona?