Highlights
World Desk, AnyTV, Washington
Published by: Surendra Joshi
Updated Mon, 21 Feb 2022 08:34 AM IST
Summary
Based on the research report, US Public Health Scientist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding called for the immediate declaration of BA.2 as a worrying form of VOC ie Omicron.
hear the news
Expansion
The corona pandemic is not leaving the world behind. Now research conducted in Japan regarding Omicron’s new variant BA.2 has yielded surprising results. In view of this, US health experts have told the World Health Organization (WHO) that this new subtype of the Omicron variant should be immediately declared a variant of concern.
The study, which was conducted on Omicron’s Ba.2 substrain or subtype, concluded that ‘it not only spreads rapidly but can also cause serious disease’. Based on this research report, US Public Health Scientist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding called for the immediate declaration of BA.2 as a concern.
American expert told BA.2 that’s why it’s worrying
- Doctors from a University of Tokyo have researched this. The ba.2 subvariant spreads rapidly and makes the infected seriously ill.
- Last week, the WHO cautioned that the Ba.2 strain is more contagious than the Ba.1.
- The rabbits (hamsters) under the study were infected with the BA.1 form and BA.2 subtype of Omicron.
- The research showed that the lung infection of hamsters infected with BA.2 became much worse. It even damaged the lungs of the infected rabbit.
- The Ba.2 sub-strain has been detected in Denmark and the UK this month. It is also unfavorable for antibodies produced from vaccines.
- Those who have been infected with earlier versions of COVID have also been found to be resistant to BA.2 antibodies.
- Research has also found that BA.2 has now started to replace BA.1. That is, it is now spreading rapidly. More contagious than Omicron’s original form.
- Although ba.2 has been considered a variant of Omicron, its genome sequence is completely different from that of the parent form ba.1.
- In this way, these two variants of Omicron have completely different properties of the corona virus.
- Omicron was found in Botswana and South Africa in November last year. Since then it has spread to many countries. It has now replaced its earlier variant.