WHO: Omicron subvariant BA.2 not more severe than original variant
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The WHO says that the BA.2 subvariant of the original Omicron variant of COVID-19 does not cause more severe disease, Reuters reports.
"Looking at other countries where BA.2 is now overtaking, we're not seeing any higher bumps in hospitalization than expected," Boris Pavlin of the organization's COVID-19 Response Team told an online briefing.

He added that existing COVID vaccines provide a similar level of protection across all Omicron types.
Pavlin noted that BA.2 is becoming dominant in the Philippines, Nepal, Qatar, India, and Denmark.
Vaccine names: Pfizer (PFE
-0.0%), BioNTech (BNTX
+3.6%), Moderna (MRNA
+2.3%), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ
-0.9%), AstraZeneca (AZN
-0.9%), and Novavax (NVAX
+3.2%).
A study released today found that BA.2 may be more transmissible than the original Omicron variant.