According to a press release from the State Serum Institute, a particular subtype of Omikron has emerged in Denmark so significantly that it now accounts for almost half of all Omikron cases in Denmark. The subtype has been named BA.2, and its proportion of infections has risen in just a few weeks from 20% of all infected people in Denmark to 45% of locally transmitted infections at the present time.
According to TV2, in just a few weeks the number of people infected with the new subvariant has risen dramatically, but there is no cause for concern, as confirmed by Chief Physician Anders Fomsgaard, who said that the rest of the world is interested in the Danish studies on BA.2, the new subvariant of Omicron.
The chief physician stated, “We have not yet been able to find biological differences between BA.2 and BA.1, which is the dominant and well-known variant of Omikron. At first glance, it does not appear that you become more severely ill from contracting the BA.2 subvariant.”.
The difference is in a specific protein.
Other countries are also seeing an increase in BA.2 cases – including Norway, Sweden, and the UK. However, the increase has not been as dramatic as locally, and Anders Fomsgaard has no explanation for why BA.2 has spread more rapidly in Denmark than in other countries, but he says health authorities are constantly investigating the differences between BA.1 and BA.2.
According to corasmitte.dk, vaccines rely on the body's immune system learning to recognize the protein in the variant, so it may affect the effectiveness of vaccines if the virus mutates and the protein changes. The chief physician explained that so far no evidence can be found that the vaccine is less effective against the BA.2 variant compared to the original Omikron variant.
The Public Health Directorate stated in the press release that three different types of Omikron have been found so far. In addition to BA.2 and the dominant variant BA.1, there is also BA.3.
Although BA.2 is spreading in Denmark, in fact BA.1 is currently the dominant variant, not only in Denmark but also in the rest of the world, but Anders Fomsgaard estimates that it is only a matter of time before BA.2 makes up the majority of local cases.
On January 9, according to the assessment of the Directorate of Public Health, Omikron accounted for approximately 96% of all coronavirus cases in Denmark.
