Coronavirus: Know all about the variant that’s spiking cases across the world right now; commonly reported signs and symptoms

Coronavirus and its variants have never stopped giving us nightmares ever since they were first detected in late 2019. The novel virus then was as much a headache as its emerging variants are three years later.

Coronavirus induced COVID infection has been taking a toll on human health and the health care management system since 2020. So far, a number of variants, both mild and severe, have emerged. Of the all coronavirus variants that have emerged, five have been put under variants of concern category.

The latest dominant variant of coronavirus, Omicron, is currently responsible for the COVID infections happening worldwide. This variant, which is also known as the milder variant in comparison to its ancestor variants, has two sub variants: BA.1 and BA.2.

The second detected sub variant of Omicron, BA.2, which is currently said to be wreaking havoc in many countries is called the stealth variant. As the name suggests, it is stealth because though it has many common mutations with its ancestor BA.1 Omicron variant, it does not have a genetic deletion on the spike protein which makes it difficult to be identified in RT PCR method. Tracking this variant is more time consuming, hence the name "stealth".

On February 22, 2022 the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the first time released an official statement on this variant. The WHO had said that based on available data of transmission, severity, reinfection, diagnostics, therapeutics and impacts of vaccines BA.2 will be considered as a variant of concern.

Read: Combination of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2, found in Israel

As said above, due to its genetic composition the virus is able to escape surveillance of conventional methods of detection like RT PCR.

Studies have shown that BA.2 has a growth advantage over BA.1. "Studies are ongoing to understand the reasons for this growth advantage, but initial data suggest that BA.2 appears inherently more transmissible than BA.1, which currently remains the most common Omicron sublineage reported," the WHO has said.

The stealth sub variant of the milder coronavirus variant has not shown any distinct symptoms as such. But as it is known that the coronavirus behaves differently in different host bodies, therefore it is difficult to zero in on a particular set of symptoms for a particular variant or subvariant.

However, experts have said early symptoms of stealth variant induced COVID infection can be dizziness and fatigue. The symptoms can be seen two to three days after being exposed to the virus.

The other common symptoms of COVID are mild fever, runny nose, difficulty in breathing, sore throat, headache, body pain, etc.

BA.2 is responsible for the massive COVID wave in China currently. COVID cases have increased sharply in the UK in recent weeks. Germany sees 250,000 daily new cases every day. High numbers of COVID cases are also being seen in France, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands. As per reports, BA.2 variant accounts for more than half of the new COVID cases in Germany and 11% of total cases in the US.

In many countries, BA.2 has overtaken BA.1 subvariant; a few months before the BA.1 sub variant had left behind the Delta variant at a faster pace.

Omicron has been notorious for its high transmissibility power.

"BA.2 is already seen in 75% of total population," Dr NK Arora, the head of COVID-19 Task Group in National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NTAGI) told India Today. Pressing on the need of taking precaution doses, he also said vaccines available now do not cover Omicron to the extent that boosters will benefit.

On the fourth wave of the COVID, which has been predicted by an IIT Kanpur study to begin in July, Dr Arora said there are some issues with the study itself. India is not seeing a surge yet as immunity due to natural infection is high in our community.

Read: COVISHIELD as a booster after 2 doses of COVAXIN boosts antibodies by 6 times, finds study