Some time ago I questioned why BA.2 and all subvariants like BA.2.* (* being wild card) where even listed under Omicron as they were vastly different to the BA.1.* subvariants. BA.3 was a lot like BA.1 but has since vanished because it was less contagious.
Anyhow people have now separated all the BA.2 subvariants in their own class as a NEW variant and called it BA.2.X (where X is “wild” or anything, to a point, as we shall see)
They have also separated all BA.5 subvariants into their own class as a new variant of concern as well and called them BA.5.X. As BA.4 is less infectious than BA.5 they have not given it its own name as a variant of concern but have left it in the Omicron list (or BA.1 subvariants), even though it is more like BA.2.
BA.2.75 seems to have a whole new array of mutations more than BA.4 and BA.5 and is now being classified as a new variant in its own right. They have called it “BA.2.5.X”. FFS.
The nomenclature of variants and subvariants of SARS-CoV2 is an absolute mess at the moment.
BA.2.75 will be the next wave of “Omicron” after the BA.4/BA.5 wave that is currently sweeping the world. It was discovered in India, but has since spread to the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Korea, and Singapore, among other countries. It is clearly more infectious than BA.5 and BA.4.
BA.4 and BA.5 escaped vaccine and natural immunity to BA.1 and BA.2, which escaped immunity to the delta variants. Now “BA.2.5.X” or BA.2.75 seems to escape any immunity to BA.4 and BA.5.
The main point to be gained from all of this is that with so many people actively infected, there are many more variants to come. The most dangerous will be recombinant variants but so far the recombinants Omicron XE, XD etc. have failed to have any impact. Lucky for us.
I am not sure where the variants or subvariants BE.1 and BF.1 fit in, but they are also growing steadily if prevalence in the main western countries.
At the moment there are about 24 million actively infected with Omicron around the world (officially) but the true number is more like to be about 50 million. I call this the “virus pool”. Most (to almost) of these people are vaccinated and the coronavirus will be mutating and improving it immune escape relative to vaccines, and to natural immunity. This is a dynamic system ever evolving so quickly, we cannot even keep track of what variants to expect.
The SARS-CoV2 pandemic is far from over. With increasing travel, the situation will only get worse. A virulent recombinant variants is only one crossover away.
#STOPTRAVEL to end the pandemic.
#zerocovid remains the only real solution to this nightmare. Ask China.
#vaccineshavefailed and have made matters worse.
Vaccines have generated new “vaccine induced variants”, a term I coined, as I have been reporting for well over a year now. Now natural immunity will also be helping the coronavirus generate new subvariants, so maybe I should use the phrase “complacency induced variants”.
And for Australia “virus complacency” is now replacing “vaccine complacency”
