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By SudOuest.fr with AFP
The new variant of Omicron “BA.2” worries epidemiologists since it would be undetectable and very contagious
Epidemiologists have been concerned for a few days about the arrival of a new variant of Omicron. It takes the name of “BA.2”, as the classification system used to follow the Covid-19 wants.
According to “Liberation” this Thursday, January 20, the “BA.2” strain was identified in forty countries, for a total of 6,817 sequencings. Of this total, 5,469 are counted in Denmark. Ten days ago, they already represented 2% of the sequencing carried out in this country. The new variant is now identified in half of the sequences. In France, less than twenty BA.2s have been sequenced. »
Undetectable
Questioned by “La Dépêche” Professor Flahault, epidemiologist and director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva, announces that it would be a “very contagious” variant of which “for the moment, we we have little data on its virulence or its ability to escape”.
This variant is worrying, since it would be “undetectable”, according to “La Dépêche”: “It completely escapes the ”SGTF” strategy allowing the variant to be detected via PCR tests. This impossibility to spot it would be due to the difference it carries compared to the “standard” variety of Omicron. »
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