Presented as the sub-variant that could replace Omicron, BA.2 worries epidemiologists. Here is what we know about this new form of SarsCoV-2.
History seems to repeat itself. With each new variant detected, we observe a myriad of mutations, different from each other.
The BA.2, described as a potential sub-variant of Omicron worries, while the number of contaminations remains quite high in France (425,183 new cases this Thursday, January 20).
Undetectable in PCR tests
The main tool for measuring the progress of the epidemic, the PCR test remains the most reliable way to know if you are a carrier of the virus.
However, this sub-variant would be undetectable in tests, which could pose a serious problem with regard to the circulation of the virus, and the real figures of contamination.
More virulent?
Already present in several countries such as Denmark, Germany and also the United Kingdom, the first observations show that the impact of BA.2 is almost similar to BA.1, the other sub-variant already observed in recent weeks.
If Omicron-positive people develop fewer severe forms than other forms of Covid-19 like Delta, BA.2 should be quite bearable for infected people.
much more contagious
According to Etienne Simon-Lorière, head of the RNA virus evolutionary genomics unit at the Institut Pasteur, who spoke in the columns of Le Parisien, “half of the cases currently identified in Denmark are positive for BA .2”.
He explains that this increase in BA.2 cases is linked to the fact that few people have already been infected with the BA.1 form, and that they have not developed antibodies.
Professor Antoine Flahault, director of the Geneva Institute of Global Health, added to our colleagues from LCI that it was an “immune escape”.