hankyoreh

COVID-19 as seen through a microscope (courtesy of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

As the number of COVID-19 cases involving the Omicron variant rises rapidly in South Korea, 4.5% of confirmed patients arriving from overseas have been identified as having the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron.

BA.2 has been referred to as the “stealth” version of Omicron due to genetic mutations that make it difficult to distinguish from other variants via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing.

“Around 4.5% of infected people arriving from overseas are confirmed to have the ‘stealth’ subvariant of Omicron. The subvariant can be identified in the PCR reagents we currently use to analyze viral variants,” said Jeong Eun-kyeong, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), during a press briefing Thursday.

When the “stealth” subvariant was first discovered in South Africa and other countries in December last year, concerns were raised that PCR testing would struggle to distinguish it from other variants, which could make it hard to monitor. But Jeong said the subvariant can be detected with the reagents Korea uses in its PCR tests.

The KDCA commissioner noted that Korea doesn’t detect variants using the genetic component responsible for the subvariant’s so-called stealth, and said that it “won’t have any impact on detection.”

“This subvariant of Omicron hasn’t been identified in locally transmitted cases of COVID-19,” Jeong added.

A team of researchers in Japan found that this Omicron subvariant is 18% more transmissible than the standard Omicron variant.

The UK Health and Safety Executive recently designated the subvariant as a topic for research, noting that transmission of the subvariant is on the rise in several countries.

By Hwang Chun-hwa, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]