A subvariant of omicron called BA.2 seems to be taking over in many places, but it is not expected to cause yet another wave of cases around the world.
. More transmissible viruses can cause more hospitalisations and deaths by infecting more people, even if they are no more severe. However, in many countries, a large proportion of people now have good immunity from boosters and infections, which should greatly reduce both the number and severity of BA.2 infections.Some people have claimed that BA.
Normally, the only way to detect variants is by sequencing, but by looking for S-gene dropouts, many labs could see how BA.1 omicron was taking over from delta just from PCR tests. BA.2 doesn’t cause S-gene dropouts, so it couldn’t be distinguished from delta using PCR – hence the “stealth” misnomer. However, now that delta has largely disappeared in many places, a falling proportion of S-gene dropouts reveals the spread of BA.2, so it is anything but stealthy.
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