Omicron BA.2.75 – a potential successor to BA.5
There’s another Covid storm looming on the horizon as a new subvariant of Omicron BA.2 appears to be carrying mutations that make it even fitter than BA.5.
The subvariant has very few sequences so far, just 73 were listed on Gisaid at the time of writing, but it has already caught the attention of several leading SARS-CoV-2 investigators, so it’s worth noting.
It looks like BA.2.75 may have the potential to be the driving force for the next SARS-CoV-2 winter wave. You heard it here first!
Tom Peacock:
Surveillence minded folks – worth keeping a close eye on BA.2.75 – lots of spike mutations, probable second generation variant, apparent rapid growth and wide geographical spread…https://t.co/sY0edKoQHX
— Tom Peacock (@PeacockFlu) June 30, 2022
Bloom Lab:
This new #SARSCoV2 Omicron subvariant (BA.2.75) flagged here by @PeacockFlu is worth tracking, as it has appreciable antigenic change relative to its parent BA.2. Key mutations: G446S & R493Q
Here is summary of what those mutations imply for antibody escape & ACE2 affinity (1/n) https://t.co/88XYhGc7V9
— Bloom Lab (@jbloom_lab) June 30, 2022
Shay Fleishon:
Yep. @PeacockFlu is correct (as usual 😀); BA.2.75 is alarming.
This is a 2nd generation for BA.2, saltation of 16 mutations, 8 are in S (4 in NTD, 4 in RBD including a reversion). https://t.co/7lDvRqICxY
— shay fleishon 🧬 (@shay_fleishon) June 30, 2022
Raj Rajnarayanan:
BA.5* vs Ba.2.75 – Mutational Portfolio
Note: A mutation is considered as belonging to a variant if at least 50% of the samples of the variant have the mutation.
No #SGTF for BA.2.75 pic.twitter.com/tE3u27giq5
— Raj Rajnarayanan (@RajlabN) July 1, 2022
Tom Wenseelers:
Pretty sure the growth advantage of BA.2.75 over BA.5 is real. Small nr of sequenced genomes, but 25% of recent sequenced cases in Maharashtra will not be small counts in reality. Spike mutations also obviously indicative of immune escape. This looks like the winner after BA.5. https://t.co/qYNg9vFYu2
— Tom Wenseleers (@TWenseleers) July 2, 2022
Yes, well – the metadata download package & JSON are now both 5 days behind apparently. As I was curious this is what I get for BA.2.75 when I add those manually. No doubt BA.2.75 is taking over in India, but also rapid growth in Nepal, Japan, Canada & the US I would say… pic.twitter.com/RYnHvklVTH
— Tom Wenseleers (@TWenseleers) July 21, 2022
Ulrich Elling:
BA.2.75 Maybe the new lineage to worry about? I don’t like the observed mutations.
Before we are done with the BA.5 wave we might already have to prepare for the next. Let’s take a closer look.
1/ pic.twitter.com/Y8TMf1zCbn— Ulrich Elling (@EllingUlrich) July 3, 2022
The Github designation:
UPDATE 1 – 2nd July 2022: Someone’s working late at the UKHSA:
12th July 2022: An excellent analysis of BA.2.75 from William A. Haseltine at Forbes.com:
“There is no relation between Omicron BA.1 and the other major variants, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, etc. BA.4/BA.5 is the dominating strain of Covid-19 today, and we believe BA.2.75 may join them.”
Forbes.com: BA.2.75 – A Dark Horse In The Covid Pandemic