Category: BA.4
Europe: BA.4 and BA.5 reclassified as Variants of Concern
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has issued an Epidemiological update on 13th May 2022. BA.4 and BA.5 have been reclassified as Variants of Concern.… ...More...
UK: 1,880 cases of XE Covid recombinant sequenced
The UKHSA have released a new technical briefing outlining the SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in Britain. The latest case count for the XE recombinant is 1,880 cases in the UK, with 1,569 of those cases in England.… ...More...
South Africa: Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths rise in fifth wave
In a new report out today, an estimation of the current RO number in South Africa was revealed, along with evidence of increasing numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the country.… ...More...
Italy: BA.4 detected in Lombardy
The BA.4 variant, the new Omicron sub-variant under consideration by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been genotyped in Monza, Lombardy.… ...More...
South Africa: Covid-19 remains a threat, we cannot just let the virus spread
“Our message remains again, to say that, Covid-19 remains a threat, it’s not over, and we cannot afford to drop all the prevention measures.… ...More...
USA: BA.2.12.1 has transmission advantage of ~25% over BA.2 – *1 UPDATE*
CDC: “BA.2.12.1 might have a transmission advantage of about 25% over the BA.2 sub variant… The BA.2.12.1 sub variant makes up nearly 30% of sequences identified nationally.” … ...More...
South Africa: BA.4 and BA.5 increasing as a proportion of sequenced cases *1 UPDATE*
An increasing share of South Africa’s Covid-19 cases are the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages of the Omicron variant, suggesting those might have a growth advantage over others, Prof Helen Rees said on Thursday.… ...More...
Preprint: SARS-CoV-2 Omicron – multiple inter-variant recombination events
“By analyzing sequences from a large number of Omicron subvariants, we identified diverse recombination events between two Omicron subvariants and several SARS-CoV-2 variants, suggesting that co-infection and subsequent genome recombination play important roles in the on-going evolution of SARS-CoV-2.… ...More...
BA.4: Recombinant of Omicron BA.1 and BA.3
Potential BA.4 lineage with a mix of BA.1 and BA.3 mutations, 5 sequences found in South Africa and USA.… ...More...