Omicron Sub-Lineages (BA.1.1.529 + BA.*) Current Status in Ecuador

Overview

Journal Viruses

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2022 Jun 24

PMID 35746651

Authors

Andres Carrazco-Montalvo

Andres Herrera-Yela

Damaris Alarcon-Vallejo

Diana Gutierrez-Pallo

Isaac Armendariz-Castillo

Derly Andrade-Molina

Karen Munoz-Mawyin

Juan Carlos Fernandez-Cadena

Gabriel Morey-Leon

Usfq-Covid-Consortium

Crn Influenza Y Ovr-Inspi

Leandro Patino

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is the latest pandemic lineage causing COVID-19. Despite having a vaccination rate ≥85%, Ecuador recorded a high incidence of Omicron from December 2021 to March 2022. Since Omicron emerged, it has evolved into multiple sub-lineages with distinct prevalence in different regions. In this work, we use all Omicron sequences from Ecuador available at GISAID until March 2022 and the software Nextclade and Pangolin to identify which lineages circulate in this country. We detected 12 different sub-lineages (BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.1.1.1, BA.1.1.14, BA.1.1.2, BA.1.14, BA.1.15, BA.1.16, BA.1.17, BA.1.6, BA.2, BA.2.3), which have been reported in Africa, America, Europe, and Asia, suggesting multiple introduction events. Sub-lineages BA.1 and BA.1.1 were the most prevalent. Genomic surveillance must continue to evaluate the dynamics of current sub-lineages, the early introduction of new ones and vaccine efficacy against evolving SARS-CoV-2.

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