This is ómicron BA.2, the “stealth” variant that casts doubt on the effectiveness of antigen tests

While infections around the world continue to escalate, but with a clear stabilization After spending the days of the biggest spikes since the start of the pandemic, the great cause of it, omicron, has left new bad news. Through various studies, it has been detected in up to 35 countries the presence of BA.2, a sublineage of this variant, which is known as “stealth”, due to its difficult uptake by antigen tests and PCR.

First it was covid-19 itself, then delta, then omicron, and now it seems that BA.2 is the one who could create new chaos in the fight against the pandemic. A deviation from the variant itself of ómicron that has been gaining strength in several countries, to the point of being the cause of a large number of cases.

Still under investigation, so it is not known by a specific name like other variants, it is believed that the first cases were detected in China but it is in India where more relevance has taken. To the point of being the dominant strain in several metropolises, in Europe the country where there is more concern is Denmark with about 35% of total daily infections.

The reason for being “stealth”

Too soon to know if it is more transmissible and creates worse effects than omicron, BA.2 is undergoing many tests in those countries where it is already being detected. What is known is his hard uptake for which it has received the nickname “stealth”.

As the first investigations have reported, this variant would be more difficult to review by current tests to identify mutations. Also for the antigen test or PCR that are done to find out if a person is infected or not, there are studies that consider that its presence in an organism can be a direct consequence of many ‘false negatives‘.

That yes, in the most cases asymptomatic or mild, also a consequence of the vaccines, the next dates will be key to knowing if the world faces another litmus test against the coronavirus or if it becomes a sign that the pandemic is becoming endemic.