A new, potentially more contagious and threatening strain of Omicron, BA.2, is spreading in the United States and may threaten efforts to relax COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions across the country.

The strain has led to a rapid increase in cases in Denmark, which moved to relax pandemic restrictions in recent days, according to the World Health Organization. Brunei, Georgia and Nepal also are experiencing significant outbreaks.

And while the numbers in the United States are small, medical detectives are keeping a close watch on trends.

Fewer than 1,400 cases involving the new subvariant have been reported in this country, according to outbreak.info, which is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other major research groups. That’s less than 0.5% of cases reported since BA.2 appeared.

The subvariant has been reported in every state except Iowa, Main and Oklahoma. California has had the largest number of documented cases, 262.

Dubbed the “stealth variant” because it appears to be more difficult to detect than earlier strains of the virus that causes COVID-19, BA.2 has been found to be more transmissible and perhaps less responsive to vaccines and treatments than its predecessors, WHO says.

“There’s not a lot of information that we have on this particular subvariant yet,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, said during a press conference earlier this month.

However, “because it is part of this package of Omicron, we do know obviously that there is increased growth rate compared to other variants of concern,” she said.

UPI

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