WHO Warns Of New Variant Omicron BA.2, Urges People To Mask-Up. Deets Inside

"Currently Omicron BA.2 is dominant worldwide. The same Omicron is most common in India as well. However, other variants like the XE, BA.4 and BA.5 are also being detected. As long as COVID continues to spread, it is good to maintain caution," the WHO chief scientist said. 

New Delhi: Cautioning that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, World Health Organisation’s (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan noted that the new Omicron BA.2 variant is dominating the viral spread worldwide including in India. The BA.2.12 is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant. In an interview with Navabharat Times, Swaminathan said that several other variants of coronavirus, including XE, BA.4 and BA.5 have also been detected across the globe.

“Currently Omicron BA.2 is dominant worldwide. The same Omicron is most common in India as well. However, other variants like the XE, BA.4 and BA.5 are also being detected. As long as COVID continues to spread, it is good to maintain caution,” the WHO chief scientist said.

Swaminathan further said that there is no need for another lockdown-like measure in the near future, but asserted that ‘all people must wear masks’ as a precautionary measure. “In the early days of the pandemic, there was no other way to stop the virus from spreading. Today we have good testing facilities, vaccines and even some useful medicines. So we don’t need to adopt crude measures like lockdown,” she said added that whether the government should make masks mandatory or not, all people must wear one.

Omicron BA.2.12 Spread In Delhi

The national capital has reported the BA.2.12 variant of the COVID-19 for the first time, which is more transmissible than the Omicron variant (BA.2) of the virus, according a report by The Hindu. The sub lineage of the Omicron variant was spotted during genome sequencing to find the current surge in COVID-19 cases in Delhi, said the report.

Officials are closely monitoring the BA.2.12 variant and the government has not yet officially made any comments about finding the variant in the city.