A mutation of the highly transmissible Omicron variant is currently 'surging' its way across Europe, and may be able to 'evade immunity further', one health expert has claimed.
As reported by The Express, the Omicron BA.2 variant was classified by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) as under investigation, and just 53 sequences of it had been identified in samples.
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Yesterday evening, Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, has claimed that the possibility of BA.2 “displacing” the original variant is “a really bad sign”.
The health expert noted that "almost half" of the Omicron cases now in Denmark were BA.2 - “surpassing the old Omicron BA.1 variant by a lot.”
Dr Feigl-Ding posted on Twitter: “Either it’s much faster transmission or it evades immunity even more.”
The doctor also pointed to data from Germany where cases of the new variant had risen to around 2 percent of Omicron infections by mid-January.
Dr Feigl-Ding said: “Early but looking exponential too.”
Elsewhere in the Netherlands, statistics suggest that the proportion had reached 5 percent of Omicron Covid cases.
While the new variant is new to the UK, Dr Feigl-Ding said that the subvariant appears to be doubling approximately every four days.
He added: "BA.2 displacing Omicron BA.1 is a really bad sign."
This news comes as more restrictions will lift today as Nicola Sturgeon says Scotland has “turned a corner” in the fight against Covid-19.
The most recent Public Health Scotland figures show that new infections of the virus in Edinburgh and across Scotland have been steadily dipping in recent days and weeks, after the Omicron variant spread through the country in December.
Now more restrictions are being lifted, and people can get back to some sort of normality when going to the pub, nightclubs and other indoor events.
