‘Stealth’ Omicron hotspots: UK records hundreds of new cases – how does your area compare?
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The emergence of the Covid variant Omicron, last November, triggered a re-escalation globally in the pandemic, leading to hundreds of thousands of new infections being reported on a daily basis in many countries. The UK has gradually regained control of its own situation following the turn of the year but is now starting to report cases deriving from an altered form of Omicron. So, which parts of the UK are highlighting themselves as hotspots for this new variant?
As of Friday, January 21, more than 400 cases of a new Omicron sub-variant have been officially identified in England.
The emergence of the strain, known as BA.2, has prompted the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to designate it as a variant under investigation.
In a statement, the UKHSA said: “As is routine for any new variants under investigation, UKHSA is carrying out laboratory and epidemiological investigations to better understand the characteristics of this variant.
“We will continue to monitor this situation closely and recommend appropriate public health measures if needed.”
Authorities said 426 Omicron BA.2 infections have been confirmed by Whole Genome Sequencing in England, with the earliest dated December 6.
As BA.2 is S-gene positive, it may make it harder to show up as Omicron than the original strain – known as BA.1 – which accounts for 99 percent of cases.
S-gene target failure helps identify Omicron and can be picked up in PCR tests. This is because Delta cases have the S-gene and BA.1 infections don’t.
Where are the BA.2 hotspots in the UK?
The areas with the largest number of confirmed cases are London (146) and the South East (97).
Early research suggests the variant could spread faster than the dominant Omicron strain, but scientists stress there is a low level of certainty about this.
Initial studies from Denmark – where it has quickly taken hold and now makes up around half of Omicron cases – show no difference in hospitalisations between the original Omicron and BA.2.
Vaccines are also expected to be effective against BA.2 in fighting severe illness, according to Danish health officials.
Since mid-November, 40 countries have registered a total of 8,040 BA.2 sequences, with the origins of the strain not known at this point.
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The Philippines submitted the first sequences of the variant, with Denmark so far reporting the highest number of samples – 6,411 cases.
India, Sweden and Singapore are the other countries who have announced more than 100 samples, with 530, 181 and 127 cases respectively.
The UKHSA said the emergence of the altered form of Omicron is not unexpected.
Covid Incident Director Dr Meera Chand said: “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.
“Our continued genomic surveillance allows us to detect them and assess whether they are significant.
“So far there is insufficient evidence to determine whether BA.2 causes more severe illness than Omicron BA.1, but data is limited and UKHSA continues to investigate.
“Case rates remain high throughout the UK and we must remain vigilant and take up vaccinations. We should all continue to test regularly with LFDs and take a PCR test if symptoms develop”.
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