Dr. Boris Pavlin of the WHO's COVID-19 Response Team said on Tuesday that the emerging BA.2 form of the Omicron coronavirus variant does not seem to be any more severe than the original BA.1 form.

He also said that vaccines also continue to provide similar protection against the different forms of Omicron.

The comments come as the BA.2 subvariant begins to replace Omicron's more common "original" BA.1 subvariant in countries such as Denmark.

In its weekly epidemiological update, the World Health Organization said that the variant, which accounts for over 93 percent of all coronavirus specimens collected in the past month, counts several sub-lineages: BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2 and BA.3.

Pavlin said his remarks are based on data from Denmark, the first country where BA.2 surpassed BA.1.

"Looking at other countries where BA.2 is now overtaking, we're not seeing any higher bumps in hospitalization than expected," he said.

BA.2 is more transmissible than the more common BA.1 and more able to infect vaccinated people, according to a Danish study which analysed coronavirus infections in more than 8,500 Danish households between December and January.

The subvariant is already becoming dominant in the Philippines, Nepal, Qatar, India and Denmark, Pavlin said. According to the World Health Organisation, the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron has been found in 57 countries to date.
-Reuters