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Ministry of Health
Parliamentary QA

Proportion of Omicron Cases comprising B2.A Sub-variant as at January 2022 and Assessment of its Threat Vis-a-vis B1.A Sub-variant

14 February 2022

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NOTICE PAPER NO. 959
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR WRITTEN ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 14 FEBRUARY 2022

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Ang Wei Neng
MP for West Coast GRC

Question No. 1522

To ask the Minister for Health (a) as at January 2022, what proportion of Omicron cases comprises the B2.A sub-variant; and (b) what is the Ministry's assessment of the threat from the B2.A sub-variant versus the B1.A sub-variant.

Written Answer

Currently, about 15% of local Omicron cases sequenced were of the BA.2 sub-lineage.

Preliminary studies overseas have found BA.2 to be more transmissible than BA.1. However, there is currently no indication that BA.2 causes more severe illness compared to BA.1, or that vaccines will not work as well against the subvariant.

The Ministry of Health will continue to monitor circulating COVID-19 strains as well as international and local data on the BA.2 sub-lineage.