The COVID sub-variant BA.2, dubbed the “Son Of Omicron” has hit Australia.
As soon as it starts to feel as if we’re turning a corner, a new subvariant of COVID graces NSW and Victoria.
The new subvariant is nicknamed “Son of Omicron”, as it isn’t actually a whole new strain.
The reason being, is that the term Omicron really refers to a group of subvariants. The main ones being BA. 1, BA. 2 and BA. 3.
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However, when BA.1 blasted its way around the globe, Omicron quickly became the nickname for that specific subvariant. Which has understandably left a few people confused.
But move over BA.1, because cases of BA.2 are reportedly increasing rapidly and in some countries are taking over BA.1 in case numbers.
Though there is no evidence that symptoms are any more severe then BA.1, The Serum Institute in Denmark reported that “preliminary calculations indicate that BA.2 is effectively well over one and a half times more contagious than BA.1.”
Early research in the UK suggests that vaccines do provide a similar level of protection to BA.2 as they do BA. 1.
COVID-19 project leader at the CSIRO, Seshadri Vasan, encouraged citizens to “keep calm and continue existing measures such as getting ourselves vaccinated, including the booster dose, and following social distancing, masks and local lockdown guidelines.”
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant explained that “at the moment we don’t see that it is presenting anything different clinically in terms of the severity or its response to the vaccine but we’ll obviously be watchful, monitoring the situation closely.”
Similarly, Victoria’s COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar said “we’re obviously following the international developments on the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron closely.”
“It’s still very early days in understanding exactly how that’s moving around, I’m aware there’s a very small number of cases that have been detected in Australia.”
In lighter news, in the last 24 hours, 22,541 Victorians have got their booster shot and 15,706 from NSW.
It is continually being encouraged to get a booster shot as soon as you’re eligible, no matter the variant (or subvariant!).
