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The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning about the emergence of three sub-variants of Omicron with the risk of faster infection and affecting the lungs.
Microscopic image provided by the US National Institutes of Health shows the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a sample of a COVID-19 patient in the US. Photo: AFP/TTXVN
CMG said that the sub-variants BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2.12.1 may be more transmissible than the original Omicron variant. According to CMG, in recent weeks, WHO and many scientists around the world have been monitoring developments related to these three sub-variants in South Africa and the US.
Last month, South African scientists identified two sub-lines BA.4 and BA.5 in the country and conducted experiments, concluding that people infected with the Omicron variant could still get COVID-19 again due to infection with the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lines.
According to medical experts, the change in the virus's genetic mutation is the cause of the increased spread of the virus, noting that the virus can penetrate lung cells, causing infections similar to the Delta variant. Meanwhile, some other scientific reports have suggested that these sub-variants can even evade the effects of vaccines.
Due to its high infection rate, the Omicron variant has many conditions for mutation, leading to the emergence of a series of sub-lines or sub-variants, of which BA.4 and BA.5 are 2 of the 5 sub-lines of Omicron identified by scientists.
In an update on May 8, the Thai Ministry of Health announced that in the past 24 hours, the country recorded 8,081 new COVID-19 cases, marking the 7th consecutive day of recording new cases below 10,000.
According to VNA
