Two new sub-variants of Omicron that are causing an increase in COVID-19 infections in South Africa have been discovered in Canada.
In an email to CTVNews.ca, a spokesman for the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) confirmed that they were aware of three BA.4 cases in Canada and one for BA.5.
“The Government of Canada has a strong monitoring program with provinces and territories to identify variants of COVID-19 in Canada, including the dangerous Omicron variant and its sub-lines,” they said. “Scientists are looking for signs that Omicron sub-lines such as BA.4 and BA.5 alter disease severity, transmissibility, or affect the effectiveness of diagnostic tests, vaccines, or treatments for COVID-19.”
The latest government data show that the highly transmissible BA.2 sub-variant Omicron is currently the most common cause of COVID-19 infection in the country.
“As with all new COVID-19 sub-lines, scientists from the Public Health Agency of Canada, along with national and international experts, are actively monitoring and evaluating BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lines and related studies,” the spokesman said. PHAC.
An early study, not reviewed by partners, suggested that BA.4 and BA.5 “showed potentially higher transmissibility than BA.2” and could also avoid antibodies generated by previous Omicron infections.
Another study, also under peer review, suggested that although vaccination “is likely to offer good protection against severe disease”, the ability of both sub-variants to avoid antibodies could “lead to a new wave of infection”.
This wave has already started in South Africa, where BA.4 and BA.5 were first identified.
“The sub-options are leading to a big jump in cases,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adanom Gebreyesus told a media briefing on Tuesday. “Omicron, and in particular BA.4 and BA.5, are driving the rise in South Africa, while BA.2 is dominating the world.”
Since the end of April, there have been thousands of new COVID-19 infections in South Africa every day, up from hundreds in the previous month. In a May 4 update, the WHO said there were more than 32,000 cases in the country last week, an increase of 67 percent. Less than 40 percent of the 60 million population is fully vaccinated.
The WHO initially announced that it was tracking several dozen cases of BA.4 and BA.5 on April 11. In the last month, sub-options have been found in countries such as Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Austria, the United States and Denmark.
“Sub-options BA.4 and BA.5 have been identified because South Africa is still carrying out the vital genetic sequencing that many other countries have stopped doing,” Gebreyesus said earlier in May.
According to the WHO, it is too early to know whether BA.4 and BA.5 cause more severe disease.
“It’s still too early for that,” WHO COVID-19 technical director Maria Van Kerhove said in a May 3 video. “What we can say right now is that it is really very important that people are vaccinated. Vaccines still work incredibly well against the prevention of serious illness and death. “
With files from Reuters and CTVNews.ca Writer Solarina Ho
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