Coronavirus: ‘Stealth Omicron’ more infectious than original strain, Danish study shows
- A person with sub-variant BA.2 has a 39 per cent chance of transmitting it to someone in their household within a week, compared to a 29 per cent risk with BA.1
- The strain is also more likely to infect unvaccinated people than the original Omicron
A sub-variant of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus strain is even more infectious than the original version, according to a Danish study published on Monday.
Sub-variant BA.2 – also called “stealth Omicron” – was detected earlier this year and has displaced the first Omicron variant, known as BA.1, as the dominant strain in Denmark.
A person infected with BA.2 has a 39 per cent chance of transmitting the virus to someone else in their household within a week, compared to a 29 per cent risk with BA.1, Denmark’s SSI health authority said in a statement.
The study by SSI researchers and Danish universities involved 18,000 people and was carried out between December 20 and January 18.
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SSI doctor Camilla Holten Moller said BA.2 was more likely to infect unvaccinated people than BA.1.