Beijing (China) | Jagran News Desk: China is once again witnessing a spike in COVID-19 cases that have forced authorities to reimpose restrictions from Shanghai to Shenzhen. On Monday, over 1,300 domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases in mainland China.
According to the Chinese authorities, the Jilin province reported the majority of new cases with 895. They have blamed the fast-spreading variant commonly known as "stealth Omicron" behind the recent surge in COVID-19 cases across the country.
What is stealth Omicron?
Officially known as the BA.2 variant, stealth Omicron is considered to be more transmissible, with experts claiming that it has higher chances of evading the immune response generated by vaccines, than the original Omicron strain.
A study, conducted by Danish researchers, has claimed also that people infected with stealth Omicron were roughly 33 per cent more likely to infect others, compared to those infected with the original strain.
The study, which analysed COVID-19 infection in over 8,500 Danish households between December and January last year, was conducted by researchers at Statens Serum Institut (SSI), Copenhagen University, Statistics Denmark and Technical University of Denmark.
Will vaccines work against stealth Omicron?
The Danish study said fully vaccinated and people with booster shots were less like to get infected and transmit either subvariants, compared to those not vaccinated.
"We conclude that Omicron BA.2 is inherently substantially more transmissible than BA.1, and that it also possesses immune-evasive properties that further reduce the protective effect of vaccination against infection," Reuters quoted the study's researchers as saying.
"If you have been exposed to Omicron BA.2 in your household, you have 39 per cent probability of being infected within seven days. If you instead had been exposed to BA.1, the probability is 29 per cent," they said.
What the WHO has said about stealth Omicron?
The World Health Organisation (WHO), meanwhile, is yet to consider the BA.2 variant as "variant of concern". However, the global health body said it will continue to monitor the spread of the stealth Omicron.
"Now among all subvariants, BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1. However, there is no difference in terms of severity," WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove was quoted as saying by Live Mint.