'Stealth' Omicron sublineage also dominant in Hanoi

A Covid-19 patient is taken to a hospital in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

The "stealth" Omicron sublineage is currently the dominant coronavirus strain in Hanoi, same as in HCMC, health authorities said.

Vu Cao Cuong, deputy director of the Hanoi Department of Health, on Thursday said among 109 coronavirus samples taken from Dec. 4 last year to Mar. 1, 93 of them were Omicron (80 percent). Among the Omicron samples, 86 belonged to the BA.2 sublineage, dubbed a "stealth" sublineage because while it still registers as positive on a PCR test, it is not immediately discernible as Omicron due to the lack of a particular gene.

The BA.2 sublineage is also around 1.5 times more contagious than the original Omicron strain (BA.1) and may evade immune responses triggered by vaccines better than the original.

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