Alberta's top doctor says Omicron subvariant BA.2 is now the dominant COVID-19 strain | FULL

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health said Wednesday that the Omicron subvariant BA.2 is now the dominant COVID-19 strain in the province.

“As of March 21, approximately 60 per cent of positive cases are BA.2, so it is now the dominant strain of Omicron in the province,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw explained.

She said Alberta continues to screen all PCR tests for variants of concern.

BA.2 is more transmissible, Hinshaw said, but doesn’t appear to be causing more severe disease in other jurisdictions than the first Omicron variant BA.1.

“While this is good news, we only have to look back to the fifth wave to see that a virus that is more transmissible can cause a large impact at a population level, even if the risk of severe outcomes are the same or lower for individuals.

Alberta’s top doctor said that means those at risk of severe outcomes should revisit their precautionary measures and everyone should get all their vaccine doses.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/8703931/alberta-covid-19-hinshaw-update-march-23-2022/

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