Magnus Heunicke, the Danish Minister of Health has verified that the BA.5 Omicron subvariant is now the leading cause of infection in Denmark’s recent spike.
The minister revealed this in a Tuesday post on his official Twitter handle. In the previous week, the variant accounted for 32% of new infections. That figure has shot up to 59%.
“BA.5 Omicron subvariant seems to be more contagious in comparison to the other known variants but there is no proof that it leads to severe sickness,” wrote the minister.
Earlier, health officials had projected that BA.5 will become prevalent in Denmark. A month ago, it accounted for just about 1% of cases.
Denmark’s coronavirus reproduction rate (R-number) currently stands at 1.1. A figure that exceeds 1.0 is an indication that the virus is actively spreading while a figure below 1.0 is a sign of remission.
Since February, the R-number rose above 1.0 for the first time last week and has sustained for the second successive week.
However, in comparison to the first quarter of 2022, community prevalence is still low.
In previous statements, Heunicke has been quoted as saying there is “undeniably no query” on the possibility of lockdowns in the summer due to coronavirus.
Before the summer break, the government is expected to publicize a document on strategies to manage new outbreaks in the winter and autumn.