World health officials monitoring new “stealth omicron” variant

Health officials around the world are monitoring a new mutation of the omicron variant that has already been found in 40 countries around the world.

The variant, dubbed BA.2, is one of the four different strands of omicron that have been discovered. The new omicron variant is being called “stealth omicron” because it is harder to detect than previous ones. 

However, the new subvariant “can absolutely be detected through traditional surveillance mechanisms whether through rapid testing or PCR," according to Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Harvard University's Boston Children's Hospital.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the variant should not be of concern since there is no evidence that stealth omicron is more transmissible, is a more severe illnesses, or is more effective against the vaccines.

“The BA. 2 descendant lineage, which differs from BA. 1 in some of the mutations, including in the spike protein, is increasing in many countries,” said WHO. “Investigations into the characteristics of BA.2, including immune escape properties and virulence, should be prioritized independently (and comparatively) to BA.1.”

The numbers of stealth omicron cases have been rapidly increasing around the world. Around 8,000 BA.2 cases have been identified so far. Stealth omicron has been detected in over 20 U.S. states, including Arizona, California, Texas, and Washington.

"It is the nature of viruses to evolve and mutate, so it's to be expected that we will continue to see new variants emerge as the pandemic goes on," said Dr. Meera Chand, the COVID-19 incident director at the UK Health Security Agency.