The new COVID-19 variant 'Omicron' has reportedly split into two lineages BA.1 and BA.2 with lineage meaning a group of closely related viruses with a common ancestor. Health experts, however, are of the opinion that there is no need to worry about the new lineages as of now. The new COVID-19 variant has about 50 mutations.
The split in the Omicron lineage is more of interest to scientists since it will help in better epidemiological surveillance. Omicron was first detected in South Africa on November 8 and since then has spread to several countries including India.
The more deadly Delta variant of COVID-19 which led to the devastating second wave in India too had first split into two lineages and then into three, including Delta plus. It later split into around 100 lineages, but it had not caused any significant harm to people.
"The B.1.1.529 #Omicron lineage is now split to BA.1 and BA.2. BA.1 will now have the original lineage and BA.2 will encompass the new outlier with around 24 mutations," Vinod Scaria, a senior scientist at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology tweeted. "PS: This is for better epidemiological surveillance & nothing to be scared of yet," he added.
Omicron lineages
The BA.1 and BA.2 lineages were classified based on mutations, some of which are common for both variants.
The BA.1 will now have the original lineage and BA.2 will encompass the new outlier with around 24 mutations.
Some of the mutations are unique to both BA.1 and BA.2 lineages of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The BA.1 lineage gives S-Gene Target Failure or SGTF which helps in identifying Omicron through the RT-PCR test
The BA.2 lineage of the Omicron variant does not give S-Gene Target Failure or SGTF.
