New Omicron subvariant expected to drive Covid wave in Europe

The BQ.1 subvariant, and its sublineage BQ.1.1, will probably dominate in Europe by mid-November to the beginning of December and help send cases up in “coming weeks to months,” the agency said on Friday.

A new omicron subvariant is poised to become dominant in Europe and will probably drive another increase in Covid-19 cases, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said.

Representational image (AP)

The BQ.1 subvariant, and its sublineage BQ.1.1, will probably dominate in Europe by mid-November to the beginning of December and help send cases up in “coming weeks to months,” the agency said on Friday. The subvariants are also gaining ground in the US, where they are responsible for an estimated 16.6% of cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The ECDC is the latest in a series of public health agencies to flag the new subvariant, which has shown an ability to sidestep the response of the immune system in lab tests. There’s no evidence that the resulting infections are more severe than those that result from the omicron variants that have dominated to this point, the ECDC said.

The subvariant is related to BA.5, the current dominant sublineage. BQ.1.1 has been found in 29 countries, the World Health Organization said this week.