Thread by @DrEricDing

⚠️Worrisome—the aggressive #BA2 subvariant of #Omicron has more than **doubled** this week since last UK report—now across all regions. BA2 has been dominant in 🇩🇰 already—prolonging their wave. Other countries be cautious—could make #COVID19 resurge.🧵 gov.uk/government/pub…

2) Here was how #BA2 surged from last week’s report to this week’s cumulative 3832 cases. It’s clearly spreading fast and across all regions of 🇬🇧

3) even in South Africa 🇿🇦- #BA2 has been surging too and replacing the original Omicron. This is not a fluke.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1486946281629040646

4) We have definitive proof that #BA2 is transmission faster - it has a high growth rate and it has a much higher secondary attack rate in households. These numbers are from UK govt scientists and they don’t lie.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1488799381138681856

5) How does #BA2’s rise compare? It’s rising quickly - mostly similar to original old #Omicron. But the worrisome thing is that it’s rising despite so many who recently got Omicron already and still it’s outcompeting it— that’s only possible if it has COVID reinfection potential.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1488801058218549248

6) Denmark 🇩🇰’s CDC is really concerned. The now know #BA2 is about 150% faster than old Omicron. And that that rate bodes badly. They openly admit their Omicron wave prolonged because of it.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1486726605057585152

7) Denmark is the only major country to date where #BA2 Omicron is dominant… see if you can spot the difference between their #Omicron wave versus others. BA2 is a slowly rising threat— countries cannot let down their guards ➡️ or else the blasé attitude will trigger resurgence!

8) Are hospitalizations in #Ba2 dominant Denmark 🇩🇰 surging? Yes— all time high - including a never before seen ⬆️ surge in psychiatric wards. Notice last year’s surge never saw such a thing before.

9) especially children — hospitalizations in youngest 0-2 age children in Denmark 🇩🇰 now rivaling rates in the elderly! Again, this NEVER happened before last year.

10) The semi good news is that booster efficacy seems similar between BA2 and BA1. But 70% protection against symptomatic infection is not great, asymptomatic likely lower, and we know with old Omicron that booster efficacy wanes to ~45% after 10 weeks.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1488801542757040129