According to the World Health Organization, a new transmissible strain of omicron is expected to circulate around the globe. However it’s unclear if this subvariant will infect anyone who has already contracted an earlier strain of the virus.

Maria Van Kerkhove (the technical lead for WHO’s Covid-19) said Tuesday that the WHO is currently tracking four types of omicron. Van Kerkhove stated that the BA.2 variant, which is less contagious than its dominant BA.1 counterpart, will become more prevalent.

Van Kerkhove, a livestreamer of the question and answer session held on WHO’s social platforms Tuesday said that BA.2 was more transmittable than BA.1. Therefore we anticipate seeing BA.2 becoming more detectable around the world.

Van Kerkhove explained that WHO will monitor BA.2 for signs of an increased incidence of infections in countries with a high rate of Omicron-related cases.

Van Kerkhove stated that it’s not clear that either subvariant causes any different severity in infections, but she added that further research is underway. Omicron is generally not as dangerous as alpha or delta, but it can spread more quickly.

Research in Denmark has shown that BA.2 can be about 1.5 times more transmissible than BA.1It is much more effective at spreading the virus to people who have been vaccinated or even enhanced. But, it can infect people who are not vaccinated. fully vaccinated are less likely to spread itVaccinated people are more likely to be healthy than those who have not been vaccinated.

Van Kerkhove stated that the shots are still highly effective in preventing serious disease and death. However, they can’t stop all infections. Van Kerkhove urged people to be vaccinated, and she recommended wearing masks indoors.

According to Dr. Abdi Mahamud (who is the WHO’s Covid incident management), it’s not known if BA.2 can infect people with BA.1.

It could also have an impact on the speed at which the virus spreads. The U.K. study found this. two-thirds of people who caught omicron said they had Covid before.

Most U.S. states have confirmed that BA.2 is present, but it circulates at a low level. According to an international data bank that tracks Covid variants, there are 460 confirmed cases.