A new version of the coronavirus, omicron BA.2 is sweeping across the globe

How fast omicron’s BA.2 variant is spreading around the world Tracking the main coronavirus variants in the U.S. and around the world: omicron, delta, gamma, alpha and beta. Dan Keating, Madison Dong, Youjin Shin Washington Post

In a pattern the world has seen twice over the past year, a new version of the coronavirus is sweeping across the globe. Omicron’s BA.2 subvariant is already by far the world’s dominant form of the coronavirus, as recorded in the GISAID international repository of coronavirus genetic sequences analyzed by The Washington Post. ...

The GISAID sequences represent countries where genomic findings are publicly released, so some large countries are not included. It takes about a week for laboratories to identify virus variants, so this data is always time-lagged. Using the variant data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that omicron BA.2 was more than 70 percent of the covid cases in the United States.

The impact of the BA.2 subvariant is unclear. An uptick in coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe is attributed to the new version of the virus. Some experts say a new wave could hit the United States amid relaxed safety protocols in the same way that delta hit last summer when many thought the coronavirus was finished.

Evidence is not clear on whether BA.2 causes more severe disease, but vaccine makers have said the protection extends to BA.2. Experts have said they believe infection from omicron provides some level of immunity against BA.2. ...