KUALA LUMPUR: The Institute for Medical Research (IMR) is currently studying the BA.2 virus, a sublineage of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, to determine its transmissibility and severity.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said this amid reports suggesting that the BA.2 could be more severe than the original Omicron variant, BA.1.
"We will be updating soon on the BA.2 Omicron sublineage. It is not a separate Variant of Concern as far as the World Health Organisation (WHO) is concerned.
"It is still Omicron, but I have asked the IMR to provide further details on both the transmissibility and its virulence or severity," he said during a press conference here today.
The WHO in its Covid-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update published on Feb 15 shared that early evidence from limited studies suggests BA.2 is more transmissible compared to BA.1.
It said BA.2 is about 30 per cent more transmissible than BA.1, according to early studies from the United Kingdom and Denmark.
It further said BA.2 is now causing about one in five Covid-19 cases worldwide.