The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported a variant of Omicron called BA.2 which is a descendant of BA.1. "The BA.2 strain, which differs from BA.1 in several mutations, including spike proteins, reportedly increased in some countries," the WHO wrote on its website.

Some scientists have named the BA.2 variant as "stealth Omicron". This is because this variant has genetic characteristics that make it more difficult to identify as an Omicron variant on PCR testing.

According to public health experts in Denmark and the U.K., this variant is 30 and 34 percent more contagious than the BA.1 variant. A Danish Study found that BA.2 was relatively more contagious, even to vaccinated people, which indicates the subvariant has greater "immune-evasive properties."

Even so, the researchers found that vaccinated people were still less likely to get infected and transmit either the BA.1 or BA.2 subvariant compared with unvaccinated people.

However, WHO says BA.2 is not a variant of concern (VOC). This means that there is no evidence that this new subvariant will make COVID-19 transmission worse. The public is expected to remain disciplined in taking the same precautionary measures like getting vaccinations, wearing face masks, keeping distance, avoiding crowded areas and quarantining at home when sick.

WHO reports that subvariants of BA.2 have now been detected in 57 countries. Some of them are the Philippines, Nepal, Qatar, India, Denmark and Indonesia. However, to date there is still a lot of unknown information about this subvariant.

Common BA.2 subvariant symptoms experienced by patients include fever, extreme fatigue, cough, sore throat, nausea, headache, muscle fatigue and increased heart rate.