China finds first case of more infectious Omicron BA.2.12.1 subvariant
- Passenger who flew into Guangzhou from Nairobi tested positive while in hotel quarantine on April 27
- The Chinese man was confirmed to have the subvariant on April 30, according to health authorities
They made the disclosure on Monday in China CDC Weekly, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s English-language publication.
The 27-year-old Chinese man had flown into Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport from Nairobi, Kenya and tested positive on April 27 while in hotel quarantine, the report said. He was confirmed to have the BA.2.12.1 subvariant on April 30.
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The latest subvariant has been found to be 30 per cent more transmissible than the original Omicron strain, and it has a higher chance of evading immunity from vaccines.
“Several studies have shown that the transmissibility of BA.2.12.1 is about 23 per cent to 27 per cent faster than that of [earlier subvariant] BA.2,” the China CDC said in the report.
“[The] Omicron BA.2.12.1 subvariant spreads very fast, which led to the resurgence of the epidemic in many parts of the United States, and cases have been reported in at least 17 countries,” it noted.
In the United States, BA.2.12.1 accounted for 36 per cent of samples sequenced during the week ending on April 30, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Average daily cases have roughly doubled since April, and BA.2.12.1 is expected to become dominant in the US, according to CDC data.