Omicron declining, but WHO warns against BA.2

New Delhi, Feb 18: While the Omicron variant of COVID-19 may be declining, the World Health Organisation has warned against a sub-variant BA.2.

"The virus is evolving and Omicron has several sub-lineages that we are tracking. We have BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2 and BA.3. It's really quite incredible how Omicron, the latest variant of concern has overtaken Delta around the world," Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid-19 technical lead said at a briefing.

In the last week alone, almost 75,000 deaths from #COVID19 were reported to WHO.

Dr @mvankerkhove elaborates on Omicron and its sub-lineages transmission and severity ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/w53Z25npx2

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 17, 2022

Most of the sequences are this sub-lineage BA.1. We are also seeing an increasing in proportion of sequences of BA.2, she said. In the last week alone, almost 75,000 deaths from #COVID19 were reported a tweet by WHO read.

"We are still seeing significant numbers of hospitaliations of Omicron. We are seeing significant numbers of deaths. It is not the common cold, it is not influenza. We just have to be really careful right now," Kerkhove also added.