Scientists Reveal Just How Severe New Omicron Subvariant Is

The BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron COVID variant is reportedly spreading faster and may also be more severe than its predecessor, according to a recent study.

A preprint study on lab experiments from Japan posted Wednesday (February 16) on the bioRxiv server reports the BA.2 subvariant could have features that cause serious illness similar to previous variants of the coronavirus and, like Omicron, appears to be capable of escaping the immunity created by vaccines, though a booster shot would make a patient 74% less likely of becoming ill after infection, CNN reports.

BA.2 is also reportedly capable of resisting some treatments, such as sotrovimab, which is the monoclonal antibody currently being used to combat the Omicron variant.

The study was, however, shared on the server prior to peer review. Typically, a study is reviewed by independent experts before being published in medical journal, but preprints allow research to be made public faster.

"It might be, from a human's perspective, a worse virus than BA.1 and might be able to transmit better and cause worse disease," said Dr. Daniel Rhoads, section head of microbiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who reviewed the study but wasn't involved in the research.

BA.2 is reported to be highly mutated compared to the original coronavirus that emerged at the beginning of the pandemic two years ago and features numerous gene changes varying from the original Omicron strain, which makes it as distinct as other past variants from their predecessors.