Omicron’s new variant BA.2.75 at least 16% more contagious than ‘stealth omicron’ — expert

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. BA.2.75, a new sub-lineage of the novel coronavirus’ omicron variant is at least 16% more contagious than its predecessors, but its symptoms are way milder, Yevgeny Timakov, a Russian specialist in infectious diseases and vaccines, told TASS on Sunday. "It is the next generation of stealth omicron. None of those infections poses a serious threat, but they are becoming more and more transmissible. It [BA.2.75] is more contagious, by at least 16%," he said. In his words, this variant of the virus is very unlikely to cause severe symptoms in patients. The expert said that face masks cannot protect people against the virus due to its high transmissibility. Earlier, the BA.2.75 sub-lineage of the omicron strain was discovered in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, India, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United States and Japan. Read more