Yet another fast-growing offshoot of Omicron BA.2 has been reported in Denmark today. Just 12 days ago we reported on the appearance of BA.2 with H78Y in ORf3a  here and here. That sub-variant is already at 30% of sequences in Denmark. Today comes news of another sub-variant though, BA.2 + ORF1a:M85. This newly discovered variant has already grabbed a 10% share of BA.2 sequences in Denmark.

Hat tip for this find goes to to Sam Schmidt – https://twitter.com/Estion8

Possible new mutation in BA.2 growing as proportion of all BA.2 in Denmark. ORF1a:M85del (NSP1:M85del) around 10% of sequences in Denmark.https://t.co/4Wiu2r10E0 pic.twitter.com/2mCicDa5tn

— Sam Schmidt (@Estion8) February 17, 2022

We’ll update this post with any further news.