The number of cases of a new sub-variant of Omicron in Northern Ireland have tripled in a week, new figures show.
A Department of Health briefing paper states that the BA-2 strain now accounts for 23.5% of Omicron cases - up from 7.7% the previous week.
The paper quotes ONS survey results which suggest that between 1 in 15 and 1 in 20 of the NI population tested positive for the virus in the week up to January 22.
It adds: “Assuming an infectious period of 7 days this indicates around 15,000 cases per day, of which we are detecting less than one third.”
The paper, however, adds that as of February 1 “there is no evidence of increased severity or immune escape for BA-2 compared with BA-1”.
However, the paper also states that “very high levels of community transmission may result in significant staff absences with the potential to reduce capacity in Health and Social Care as well as in other areas”.
The document adds: “There is still some delta virus (<5% cases) which is likely to decline slowly and which is contributing disproportionately to the number of severely ill patients in hospital. Hospital admissions have fluctuated in the last week and remain roughly steady.
“ COVID bed occupancy as a result of community acquired infection has decreased and nosocomial cases have fallen modestly in the last week, meaning that overall occupancy has fallen a little. ICU occupancy and hospital deaths continue to fall slowly. ICU occupancy is still predominantly a result of delta infection.
“It is likely that hospital numbers will fall slowly over the next number of weeks, with some day to day variation. We do not anticipate much rise in either ICU occupancy or deaths from current levels based on available data.”
On Thursday, Department of Health daily figures showed that there were 4,203 positive cases in Northern Ireland and three deaths reported in the previous 24 hours.
The Executive briefing paper added: “We are likely to be beyond the secondary peak of case numbers for the omicron wave,
driven by the return of schools, and current data remains compatible with this. Cases are likely to remain relatively high for the foreseeable future, as a result of waning immunity and increased interactions following relaxation of restrictions.”
As viruses mutate into new variants, they sometimes split or branch off into sub-lineages. The Delta variant is understood to have around 200 different sub-variants.
While the virus is less virulent, it is continuing to cause disruption particularly in schools with children testing positive then having to stay at home until they have had negative lateral flow tests two days in a row. Other sectors are affected as parents are forced to take time off.
