SARS-CoV-2 BA.2 Variant Continues To Rise Globally, Constantly Spawning Newer Subvariants And Causing Reinfections. New Surge Expected In America

COVID-19 World News Updates: COVID-19 Cases are increasing in countries in the regions of Africa, Europe, and the Western Pacific (mainly South-East Asian, East Asian and Oceania areas) and these new surges are driven by the various Omicron variants and emerging subvariants and recombinant variants.


 
The Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) recommends member States continue to prepare for a potential similar increase within the countries and territories in the Region of the Americas. (ie Canada, United States and South America) where a new surge is expected to strike anytime between 3 to 4 weeks’ time!
 
The BA.2 surge has already just begun in the United Kingdom although the British government is trying hard to conceal the fact to the stupid masses in the country. In the last 24 hours, new infections have almost reached the 300,000 mark! https://twitter.com/timspector/status/1505159605743239173

Hospitalizations and deaths are also increasing though well hidden by the concerted efforts of the British government and also the mainstream media.
 
In the first 12 consecutive weeks of 2022, there was initially observed a substantial increase in weekly reported cases at the global level and then a declining trend in COVID-19 cases has been observed since epidemiological week (EW) 4 of 2022, and in deaths (since EW 6 of 2022).
 
Alarmingly however, in EW 10 of 2022, a relative increase in the global number of new cases was reported, as a result of increases in 3 regions ie Western Pacific (29%), Africa (12%), and Europe (2%).
 
It was reported that at the global level, the countries that reported the largest relative increase in new cases during EW 10 of 2022 were: Viet Nam (65%), the Republic of Korea (44%), the Netherlands (42%), and Germany (22%).
 
COVID-19 cases are also increasing in Switzerland, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore and China.
 
The Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean Islands subregion, in EW 10, experienced a 51% relative increase in reported cases compared to the previous week. Specifically, the following countries and territories in the Americas reported an increase in cases in EW 10 compared to the previous week: Aruba (66%), Bermuda (50%), Bolivia (5%), Cuba (1%), Dominica (21%), French Guiana (125%), Guadeloupe (21%), Martinique (326%), Montserrat (100%), Saint Barthelemy (147%), Saint Lucia (19%), Saint Martin (36%), Saint Pierre and Miquelon (550%), and the United States Virgin Islands (319%).
 
According to available information in EW 10 of 2022, there was a relative increase in hospitalizations compared to the previous week in Bermuda (71%) and Panama (2%). Additionally, in EW 10 of 2022, a relative increase in COVID-19 deaths compared to the previous week was reported in Barbados (133%), Guadeloupe (400%), Jamaica (36%), Martinique (800%), Saint Lucia (150%), and Suriname (50%).
 
China reported 3,615 New COVID-19 Infections for Friday and also 2 COVID-19 deaths. According to local Chinese physicians and researchers based in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan, the situation is more dire and actual caseloads and deaths rates are far higher than reported but as typical of the Chinese government, figures are being manipulated to present a perception that the government has things in control there.
 
t; It is also reported that a new BA.2 subvariant that spots a different unique Spike mutation unlike that of the BA.2.2 subvariant found in Hong Kong is at play in China and that this new subvariant also spots two unique nucleocapsid mutations.
 
At the global level, the variant of concern (VOC) Omicron is currently the predominant circulating variant and has displaced VOC Delta. Among the total number of sequences published in the GISAID platform in the last 30 days, 99% corresponded to VOC Omicron and 0.1% to VOC Delta.
 
Importantly as of 18 March 2022, most of the VOC Omicron sequences published in the GISAID platform correspond to the BA.1 (45.3%) and BA.1.1 (37.8%) sublineages, while BA.2 accounts for 16.6% and BA.3 accounts for 0.03% of the VOC Omicron sequences.
 
The newly reported various recombinant Deltacron variants are at the moment of no threat as they represent very few sequencings and there is no incremental patterns detected.
 
However, what is more worrying and is something that Thailand Medical News has constantly been harping about is that the BA.2 variant is more active in terms of evolving and also in terms of recombining even with other Omicron subvariants such as the BA.1.1 and BA.3 and even among its own many subvariants it is spawning that possess unique mutations as it fights the vaccine induced antibodies, the monoclonal antibodies, the various antivirals being used and also exposure to various other human genes and also pathogens in the human host.
 
What is also not being told to many is that these emerging BA.2 subvariants or recombinant variants are able to cause reinfections as even  previous exposure to the Omicron variant or even the BA.2 variant offers no protection to these newer emerging subvariants as what is being observed in Hong Kong and also just in the United Kingdom.
 
The BA.2 is already though to be about 30 percent more transmissible than the original Omicron variant and the BA.2.2 subvariant is thought to be 45 percent more transmissible than the original Omicron variant.
 
In terms of pathogenesis, the new BA.2 variant and emerging subvariants are displaying a different mode and are not only using many different host receptors for viral entry but are also adapt at dysregulating, damaging and evading the human host immune system!
 
In South Africa, Netherland and USA (California), new recombinant BA.2 variants with BA.1 has emerged. https://github.com/cov-lineages/pango-designation/issues/478
 
https://github.com/cov-lineages/pango-designation/issues/472
 
https://github.com/cov-lineages/pango-designation/issues/477
 
In Vietnam and Philippines, new BA.2 subvariants have emerged spotting unique mutations in the ORF3a regions. https://twitter.com/RajlabN/status/1505073922286538752/photo/1
 
In UK, the BA.2.2 with a unique spike mutation S:I210T has emerged and is fast spreading. https://twitter.com/RajlabN/status/1504897550758952967/photo/1
 
We are also witnessing interesting BA.2 subvariants spotting unique mutations emerging in Brazil, Cambodia and Thailand, where we expect disease severity to increase also with reinfections as these new BA.2 subvariants start gaining predominance.
 
The dire concern at the moment is to pay careful attention to all the newer BA.2 subvariants or recombinant variants that are emerging as these are the current threats for the next few months along with constant reinfections that will deplete our immunity systems and also disrupt our other cellular pathways.
 
Prior to the emergence of the BA.2 variant, Thailand Medical News had proposed a hypothesis that a majority of all those who have been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus or any of its variants and its viral proteins through infections or other means would, irrespective of being asymptomatic or mild symptomatic would have shortened lifespans and possibly only make it through for another five to 8 years the max due to the long term health consequences which will give rise to fatal outcomes by heart failures, strokes, CVST incidences, organ failure, sepsis, secondary opportunistic infections and accelerated aggressive cancers, however with the emergence of the BA.2 variant and subvariants and that reinfections and coinfections will become the norm in many coming surges, we now hypothesize that the lifespan of all these individuals would even be further shortened as we know think that majority will only last between 3 to 4 years only unless they can access real personalized medicine surveillance and treatment protocols.

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