The Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement on 28 January that BA.2, a sub-variant of the Omicron variant, has been detected in Singapore.
According to MOH, as of 25 January, about 48 local cases and 150 imported cases were confirmed to have the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant.
MOH added that the health authorities in Denmark have shared their findings that the BA.2 sub-variant is more infectious than BA.1, although there are no significant differences in the clinical outcomes.
The ministry added that they will need further data and study to fully understand the implications for severity, immunity and transmissibility of BA.2
Variant under iunvestigation
The UL Health Security Agency designated the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant as a variant under investigation and it has not been designated as a variant of concern.
It doesn’t have the particular mutation in Omicron that can be used as a proxy to easily distinguish it from the Delta variant.
Magnus Heunicke, the Minister of Health for Denmark, said that the variant (which is currently dominant in Denmark), appears to be more contagious than the more common BA.1 sub-variant.
However, there is no evidence to show that it causes more diseases and illnesses.