While on one hand due to declining cases of COVID-19 people are heaving a sigh of relief, on the other hand the emergence of the subvariant of coronavirus’s Omicron variant has posed new challenges. Omicron is the latest variant of the coronavirus. Till date five variants of the virus including the Omicron have been listed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the variants of concern due to their high transmissibility and aggressiveness.

Recently a subvariant of the Omicron has been found and according to the latest update given by the WHO it is likely to spread globally.

The Omicron subvariant, BA.2, also known as the stealth Omicron, is said to be more contagious than its ancestor Omicron. According to Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, the BA.2 subvariant, which is more contagious than the currently dominant BA.1 version, will likely become more common, CNBC reported.

The WHO is monitoring BA.2 to see if the subvariant causes an increase of new infections in countries that saw a rapid increase and then a sharp decline in omicron cases, Van Kerkhove said.