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The latest Covid variant is 1.5 times more contagious than omicron and already circulating in almost half of the United States.

• The omicron subvariant known as BA.2 is 1.5 times more transmissible than the original omicron variant, according to Danish scientists.
• BA.2 has a "substantial" growth advantage over the original omicron, known as BA.1, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
• As of Friday, over half of the states in the United States had confirmed the presence of BA.2, with at least 127 cases reported countrywide.

There have already been dozens of cases of a novel Covid subvariant that is even more contagious than the previously highly transmissible omicron variant over nearly half of the United States.

Nearly half of US states have confirmed the presence of BA.2, with at least 127 reported occurrences countrywide as of Friday, according to a global data system that tracks Covid variants. Although BA.2 has expanded in proportion to the original omicron strain in some nations, it is now circulating at a low level in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The subvariant is 1.5 times more transmissible than the original omicron strain, dubbed BA.1 by scientists, according to Statens Serum Institut, which conducts infectious disease surveillance for Denmark.

The new sublineage does not appear to affect the effectiveness of immunizations against symptomatic infection, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

"At this time, there is no evidence that the BA.2 lineage is more severe than the BA.1 lineage," said Kristen Nordlund, a representative for the CDC.

Over the course of a few weeks, BA.2 eclipsed the original omicron as the main version in Denmark, according to Troels Lillebaek, chairman of the Scandinavian nation's commission that monitors Covid variants.

In the most critical locations, BA.1 and BA.2 exhibit many variances in their mutations. In fact, the difference between BA.1 and BA.2 is bigger than the difference between the original "wild strain" and the Alpha variety, which was the world's first major mutation.

The BA.2 variety contains five distinct mutations on a key portion of the spike protein that the virus uses to bind to human cells and invade them, Lillebaek told. Higher transmissibility is frequently related with mutations in the receptor binding domain of the spike.

BA.2 has a "substantial" growth advantage over the original omicron, according to the UK Health Security Agency. The sister variant spread quicker than the original omicron in all parts of England where there were enough instances to conduct a analysis, according to the agency.

BA.2 does not appear to diminish vaccination effectiveness any more than the original omicron, according to a preliminary assessment. Two weeks after receiving the shot, a booster dose was 70% effective in preventing symptomatic sickness from BA.2, compared to 63 percent for the original omicron strain.

BA.2 has not been classified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization. However, as omicron spreads at an unprecedented rate over the world, WHO officials have repeatedly warned that new variations will emerge. The WHO's Covid-19 technical lead, Maria Van Kerkhove, warned on Tuesday that the next Covid version will be more transmissible.

"The next variation of concern will be more fit," Van Kerkhove explained, "and what we mean by that is that it will be more transmissible since it will have to overtake what is now circulating." "The key question is whether future versions will be more or less severe," says the researcher.

Lillebaek said, there isn't enough data to say if BA.2 can reinfect persons who have already been infected with the original omicron. Prior infection, on the other hand, would almost certainly offer some BA.2 crossover immunity.

Pfizer and Moderna began clinical studies on omicron-specific vaccines this week, amid rising fear that new variants would arise as the protection induced by the original vaccines wanes.

New Covid cases are on the rise in Denmark, with more than 50,000 new infections reported on Friday in a country of 5.8 million people, according to the country’s health ministry. Lillebaek said , it's safe to conclude that BA.2 is currently driving the rise in new infections in Denmark.

In Denmark, new hospital admissions increased by 12 for a total of 967 Covid-positive patients. This growth, according to Lillebaek, is likely within the bounds of what the health system can handle. He did point out, however, that 80 percent of Danes are completely vaccinated, with 60 percent receiving booster injections.

"If you live in a town or a country with a low vaccination rate, you will almost certainly have more hospital admissions, more severe cases, and more ICU hospitalizations," he said.

Around 67 percent of individuals eligible in the United States are fully vaccinated, according to data from the CDC.