Sudden rise of more transmissible form of Omicron catches scientists by surprise | Science

On 7 December 2021, as the Omicron variant of the pandemic coronavirus began to pummel the world, scientists officially identified a related strain. BA.2 differed by about 40 mutations from the original Omicron lineage, BA.1, but it was causing so few cases of COVID-19 that it seemed a sideshow to its rampaging counterpart. “I was … Read more