BizPac Review By
A new variant of Covid-19, dubbed the “Son of Omicron,” has reached Australia and has been alleged to be spreading like wildfire.
This new strain, the BA.2 subvariant of Covid-19, has already made the rounds in Europe, and in Denmark has made up 45% of all Covid-19 cases. Its key feature appears to be the difficulty of detection, as a diagnosis can only be confirmed through lab analysis, instead of a simple PCR test.
The Omicron “parent” variant, B.1.1.529, was comparatively easy to detect, since it has an S-gene drop out (unlike the Delta variant), so PCR tests are easily able to detect it. The new subvariant does not have that same genetic drop out, making it significantly harder to detect, especially in a reasonable and convenient time frame.
