South African scientists have discovered two new sublineages of the Omicron coronavirus variant, said Tulio de Oliveira, who runs gene-sequencing institutions in the country.
The lineages have been named BA.4 and BA.5, he said by text message and in a series of tweets. Still, de Oliveira said, the lineages have not caused a spike in infections in South Africa and have been found in samples from a number of countries.
South Africa and Botswana were the first to discover omicron in November and South Africa was the first country to be hit by a wave of infections caused by the strain. Hospitalizations and deaths were a fraction of those caused by the delta variant even as daily cases hit a record in December.The sublineages have also been found in samples from Botswana, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the U.K., de Oliveira said on Twitter.
“There is no cause for alarm” said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Regional Director for Africa. “We are working with scientists in Botswana and South Africa to gain complete behavioral knowledge of these sublineages.”
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