The new variant is believed to be more contagious than the original strain of COVID-19, with estimates suggesting it could be up to 70% more transmissible.
Know about Omicron s new sub-lineage BA.2 found in 80% of Kolkata samples - Britain has so far confirmed 426 cases of Omicron sub-variant BA.2 by conducting Whole Genome Sequencing. It has been detected in 40 other countries.
The fast-spreading Alpha variant now accounts for two-thirds of the COVID infections in the United States, and researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have made a discovery that helps explain why.
What do we know about the mutation?
The mutation, like in the case of other variants, is located on the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein, in the region of interaction with human receptor ACE2.
It was detected in 11,435 distinct cases of the 1,180,571 SARS-CoV-2 samples they tested.
What do we know about the behaviour of this variant?
It has been noted that the T478K variant spreads fast. So much so that observing the rate and speed of the spread, the study researchers have also compared it to the Alpha variant, first identified in the UK. This variant has been increasingly spreading among people in North America, particularly in Mexico. To date, this variant covers more than 50% of the existing viruses in this area,”