Belgium logs one case of new variant of Omicron ‘BA.4’

One case of the latest variant of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 (BA.4) has been recorded in Belgium, as announced by the virologist Marc Van Ranst.

There was no major cause for alarm. The World Health Organisation-WHO has called for the close monitoring of the BA.4 as well as BA.5 Omicron sub-variants, which were found in South Africa.

“So far, one BA.4 infection has been found in Belgium, ” as stated by Van Ranst in a statement after Tulio de Oliveira of the Centre for Epidemic Response & Innovation (CERI) in South Africa noted that the sub-variants had already been detected in Botswana, Germany, Denmark, as well as the UK,

The BA.4 case in Belgium was found in the French-speaking part of the nation. It was noticed by the ULB university in Brussels (Université Libre de Bruxelles) in the previous week. o

The new version of the variant of the COVID-19 infection is more or less pathogenic as compared to BA.2 version is not yet revealed but accounts for the vast majority (95,7%) of coronavirus infections in the county. It is too early to say.

Moreover, Van Ranst has mentioned in the statement, “It is normal for viruses to mutate and generate sub-variants. At present, there is no cause to believe that BA.4 or BA.5 behave differently from BA.1 or BA.2 clinically or in terms of vaccine protection.”