The British Health and Safety Agency analyzed that the stealth omicron mutation (BA.2) has a faster rate of increase than the existing omicron mutation.
BA.2, a sub-variant of Omicron mutation, is called stealth Omicron mutation because it is difficult to distinguish it from other mutations in conventional PCR tests due to some specific genetic defects.
The Health and Safety Administration designated it as an investigational variant a week ago, citing that although there are few BA.2 cases in the UK, it is increasing at home and abroad.
The Health and Safety Administration said that as of the 24th, 1,72 cases of BA.2 were confirmed in England.
The Health and Safety Administration said that BA.2 had a higher rate of increase compared to the omicron variant in all parts of England.
The Health and Safety Administration also emphasized that although there is no data on the severity of BA.2, the initial analysis did not differ from the Omicron mutation in the effectiveness of the vaccine in blocking symptomatic infection.
Meanwhile, the Health and Safety Administration said that most of the cases of corona 19 hospitalized in the intensive care unit between November 24 last year and January 19 of this year were cases of delta mutation infection.
During this period, as the Omicron mutation became the dominant species, the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients surged, but the hospitalization did not increase that much because herd immunity was formed through vaccination and previous infection, and the lethality of the Omicron mutation was low.
Even in nursing homes, an increase in omicron mutation infections did not lead to hospital admissions.