Virus variants BA4 AND BA5: WHO concerned about new corona mutations

The list of omicron variants of the coronavirus is growing. The World Health Organization (WHO) has just added two new mutations to its list of Variants of Concern.

New to the WHO tracking list are the omicron variants BA4 and BA5, which were discovered in South Africa but have also appeared in Germany. Kate O’Brien (59), director of the WHO vaccination program, warned governments around the world against easing measures to contain the corona virus too early: “The pandemic is certainly not over yet.”

The Belgian biologist Tom Wenseleers uses a graphic on Twitter to show how the emergence of new variants is accelerating: “New (sub)variants every few months, in which the severity of the courses will hopefully always decrease.”

So why does the WHO classify the new variants as alarming? The two variants have mutations whose effects are still unclear. The biophysicist Cornelius Roemer fears on Twitter: “If we’re unlucky, the severity of the courses will be as bad as with Delta.” This would make BA4 and BA5 significantly more dangerous than the previous Omicron variants.