Japanese Researchers Detect New Type Of Omicron Variant
Japan's health ministry says researchers have detected a new strain of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the country.
The ministry says the National Institute of Infectious Diseases analyzed earlier this month a sample taken from a person who had tested positive for COVID-19 in Sendai City.
The researchers detected a new type of the Omicron variant which is a recombination of the BA.1 and more contagious BA.2 strains of the Omicron.
The patient developed symptoms in late March, and has since been recovering without becoming seriously ill.
The researchers believe the patient contracted the virus in Japan, as the person has no recent record of traveling overseas.
The newly-found sub-variant of the Omicron is different from Omicron's XE strain which is also a mixture of the BA.1 and BA.2. The XE was first found overseas. In Japan, the XE strain was detected at Narita Airport quarantine last month.
The new sub-variant confirmed by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases is the first discovery inside and outside Japan.
It is unknown whether the new type is more contagious and more pathogenic than other Omicron strains.
Officials at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases say that gene recombination can happen when a person becomes infected with both the BA.1 and BA.2 sub-types as the BA.2 has become more dominant in Japan.
They say that there is no need to be alarmed as the new sub-variant has not been spreading.