FRANKFURT (Reuters) – European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on Monday warned that the two new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 were set to spread widely in the European Union over the next few weeks.
Though most EU countries have so far detected low proportions of the two subgroups, those countries that have seen high rates, such as Portugal, have also experienced a surge in overall cases, the ECDC said.
BA.4 and BA.5 do not appear to carry a higher risk of severe disease but an increase in case numbers from higher transmission rates alone risks leading to an increase in hospitalisations and deaths, the ECDC warned.
“The growth advantage reported for BA.4 and BA.5 suggest that these variants will become dominant,” the EU body said in a statement on its website.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Alison Williams)
