Stealth Omicron cases take up 35% of new U.S. COVID cases

The ‘Stealth Omicron (BA 2 type subvariant of Omicron),’ re-spreading COVID-19 in Asia and Europe, is predicted to become the dominant variant in the US, which has the largest number of infections. The variant is causing concerns as it is known to be more than 30% transmissible than existing Omicron variants.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control said on Tuesday (local time) that the ratio of Stealth Omicron infections among new COVID-19 patients in the U.S. reached 35%, an increase from 22% last week and 90 times higher than Jan. 4 (0.4%).

According to a COVID 219 tracker website, the Stealth Omicron has become the dominant variant among major European countries as of Monday. Over 99% of new infections were Stealth Omicrons in Denmark, followed by Norway (90%), Sweden (87%), the U.K. (85%), Switzerland (72%) and the Netherlands (70%). And 100% of all new infections in Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Bangladesh turned out to be Stealth Omicron variants as well.

Health experts predict that the Stealth Omicron variant will be the dominant variant in the U.S. as well. The Washington Post reported that genomics company Helix’s research on virus samples in populous states such as California, Florida and Pennsylvania showed that 70% of cases were related to the Stealth Omicron.


Bo-Mi Im bom@donga.com