Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

WHO: Omicron Sub-mutant Discovered in 57 Countries in World


Wed 02 Feb 2022 | 10:55 AM
Ahmed Moamar

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced,, that a sub-mutant of Omicron - studies indicate that it is spreading faster than the original - that has been detected in 57 countries.

The Omicron mutated from the rapidly spreading coronavirus, has become a cult worldwide since it was first detected in South Africa 10 weeks ago.

In the weekly epidemiological update, the WHO said that the mutant, which made up more than 93 percent of all samples of the Corona virus collected last month, has several subspecies, namely “PA.1”, “PA.1.1” and “PI.2”. and BA3.

But there was a clear rise in infections related to the "PA2" strain, which underwent several mutations different from the original, including the spiny protein on the surface of the virus, which plays a key role in the virus entering human cells.

WHO revealed that "strains identified as (PA.2) have been submitted to the Global Influenza Data Sharing Initiative from 57 countries so far," adding that in some countries the sub-mutant makes up more than half of the omicron strains collected.