Omicron BA.2 variant has started to emerge as a subvariant of COVID-19 Omicron variant with the United States starting to impose laxer COVID-19 restrictions and mandates.

The subvariant presents new Omicron symptoms with it not yet being widespread in the U.S. However, it has been dubbed as a "variant of concern," according to an NJ News report.

Omicron BA.2 variant is believed to be 30 percent more transmissible than its original strain. In addition, it has also presented its ability to evade some tests.

The head of Africa's top public health body said in February the subvariant seems to be more infectious than the original strain of the Omicron variant, but it does not cause more severe disease.

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Omicron BA.2 Variant

Health officials found that the BA.2 variant can have two additional symptoms that do not show in the original Omicron symptoms.

Spokane Regional Health District Health Officer Francisco Velazquez said that people should look out for dizziness and fatigue in the subvariant, according to a KREM News report. He added that these symptoms can come from a number of causes.

Velazquez urged people to have their COVID-19 vaccines and boosters to decrease the risk of infection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considered it a variant of concern under the Omicron strain despite being less than one percent of Omicron COVID-19 cases.

Meanwhile, new lab experiments in Japan found that BA.2 has a number of features that can make it capable of causing severe COVID symptoms on the same level as previous strains, according to Deseret News report.

The research published on the bioRxiv server found that BA.2 can resist COVID-19 vaccines and some treatments, such as the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab.

Dr. Daniel Rhoads, section head of microbiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, noted that from a human's perspective, it might be a worse virus than BA.1 and might be able to transmit better and cause worse disease.

Deborah Fuller, a virologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, said that the BA.2 variant looks like "we might be looking at a new Greek letter here."

COVID-19 Omicron Variant

Last December, the Omicron variant became the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States, according to a France24 News report.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced during an address that the federal government will procure 500 million at-home rapid COVID-19 tests and make them available to all Americans in January.

Omicron was first reported in South Africa in November and has been identified in dozens of countries.

Recently, the U.S. has seen lower hospitalizations, as well as the number of patients in intensive-care units, and the daily death toll.

The U.S. has averaged 52,909 hospitalizations a daily, which is a 43 percent decrease from weeks ago, with deaths averaging 1,867 a day, according to a Market Watch report.

The patients in ICU also decrease by 42 percent to 10,033 a day.

The CDC released new guidelines for mask mandates for communities where COVID is decreasing.

California announced that the state will no longer require masks in most indoor settings after March 11.

The announcement covers schools. Oregon and Washington also announced the end of school mask mandates.

READ MORE: CDC Recommends Shorter COVID Isolation Period for Health Care Workers Amid Omicron Variant

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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