However, it is starting to make room for a newer sub-variant, BA.2. According to Lehtonen, the first infections caused by an even more contagious subvariant were confirmed in the hospital district about a week ago.
“The BA.2 sub-variant could become the dominant virus in the hospital district in as little as a month,” he said.
The sub-variant is widespread in Denmark and Norway, for example. “We are a couple of weeks behind them in terms of the epidemic. In Denmark, BA.2 is currently the dominant virus, “he said developed later yesterday to Helsingin Sanomat.
The sub-variants are very similar in terms of disease presentation. Sub-variants typically cause only mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, especially in vaccinated people, but those who are not vaccinated are still at risk of developing severe forms of Covid-19.
The challenge, however, is that infection with the parental sub variant BA.1 provides little protection against BA.2. “Cases have been reported in which it became infected as early as one month after a person became ill with the disease. [older] omikron variant, ”Lehtonen told YLE.
He acknowledged that the spread of the newer variant is likely to slightly prolong the current wave of infection, but that shouldn’t make the situation tremendous.
“At HUS, the situation has continued to improve from the previous week. We now have 10 coronavirus patients in intensive care, which is half the number in mid-January. The BA.2 variant could, of course, lead to a situation where coronavirus compartments are not emptied as quickly as we hoped. ”
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page