The number of uploaded SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences is rapidly growing in the Russian VGARus database, a third of them appeared in 2022. This was reported in Rospotrebnadzor.

“Now there are more than 14,000 omicron sequences in the database, of which about 500 are BA.2,” said Kamil Khafizov, head of the scientific group for developing new diagnostic methods based on sequencing technologies at the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor.

The now dominant “omicron” lineage, known as BA.1, has been responsible for the overwhelming number of confirmed new cases of COVID-19 worldwide.

“According to WHO, as of January 31, 2022, BA.1 accounted for 96.4% of the sequences uploaded to GISAID (the international database of virus genomes), Khafizov explained. “However, another sub-variant known as BA.2, which differs from BA.1 by a couple of dozen mutations, has already begun to supplant it in some regions. At the same time, some experts believe, and justifiably, that BA.2 is not a descendant of BA.1, but rather some independent branch that could, as they say, come out of the same patient in South Africa, which gave birth to "omicron", although the question of the origin of the latter remains open.

The spread of BA.2 is now closely monitored in many countries, including Denmark, India and Nepal, where this lineage has become dominant.

bbabo.Net