Category: AY.4.2
UKHSA risk assessment for Sars-CoV-2 variant AY.4.2
AY.4.2 continues to increase in prevalence slowly in England. There is an increased growth rate for AY.4.2 compared to other circulating variants in 2 separate models, and this is now consistent across regions of England.
There is a small increase in secondary attack rate and in household transmission risk, though both these analyses have limitations as they are derived from routine testing and tracing data systems.
There is also a slowly increasing prevalence and an increased growth rate for AY.4.2 in incoming travellers to the UK. However, there is as yet no other country reporting the same effect through domestic surveillance and there is some conflicting evidence from community survey data. Confidence in this finding therefore remains low.
UKHSA Risk assessment for Sars-CoV-2 variant AY.4.2