The UK on Friday designated a sub-lineage of Omicron as a variant under investigation, saying it could have a growth advantage.
Britain has sequenced 426 cases of the BA.2 sub-lineage with the UK Health Security Agency saying that early analysis suggests an increased growth rate compared to the original Omicron lineage, BA.1.
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The health agency said that 40 countries had reported BA.2 cases, with the most samples reported in Denmark, followed by India, Britain, Sweden, and Singapore.
In Denmark, BA.2 has grown rapidly. It accounted for 20% of all Covid-19 cases in the last week of 2021, rising to 45% in the second week of 2022, Reuters has reported.