Eric Topol Profile picture
physician-scientist, author, editor. Ground Truths: https://t.co/YhatcBT0hA

Jan 28, 2022, 7 tweets

Brief update on Omicron, and its BA.1 and BA.2 lineages (sisters)
1. Origin—the 3 theories for how this hyper-mutated version of the virus evolved
nature.com/articles/d4158… @nature

2. A great annotated graphic by @firefoxx66 of @nextstrain conveying the antigenic distance of Omicron's BA.1 and BA.2 from prior variants
nextstrain.org/ncov/gisaid/gl…

3. The BA.2 variant is spreading widely, throughout many countries in Europe and Asia, out-competing BA.1, indicating higher transmissibility. But the good news from yesterday's @UKHSA: vaccination + boost is holding up quite well; there's no indication of more immune evasion

4. Some countries where BA.2 (light purple) is making or has already made major inroads outcompeting BA.1 (purple) covariants.org

5. And there's a new thread from @trvrb covering these points and many others, with the conclusion that BA.2's impact of extending the length of time (longer tail) for the Omicron wave

6. More on this and it's excellent, by @Dereklowe
science.org/content/blog-p…

7. A new BA.2 dedicated report today from @UKHSA
The secondary attack rate for BA.2 compared with BA.1 is roughly 30% increased, reflecting a transmission edge
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…
And another invaluable @kallmemeg🧵takes you through the rest of it

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