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The availability of new Omicron sub-variants could lead to a significant increase in COVID-19 cases in EU countries in the coming weeks and months, the health ministry said.

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It is not yet known whether sub-variants BA.4 or BA.5 have a more severe disease than the currently dominant sub-variants BA.1 and BA.2.

At present in Bulgaria there are no identified cases of sub-variants of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5.

Following its declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a "worrying variant", Omicron continues to mutate, leading to variants with different genetic mutations.

In May 2022, two sub-variants of Omicron - BA.4 and BA.5, were declared by the WHO as "worrying options". Sub-variants of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 were identified for the first time in South Africa, respectively in January and February 2022, and are currently already dominant there. 

BA.4 and BA.5 have many of the mutations inherent in the originally established variant Omicron, but have more in common with variant BA.2.

They have a number of additional mutations, some of which can alter the characteristics of the virus.

Both new variants carry the L452R mutation - a mutation in the gene of the so-called.

thorn protein, which was previously found only in the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2.

Thorn protein is important because it is used by the virus to infect human cells and determines how easily the virus is transmitted.

This mutation makes the virus more contagious and can help it partially evade immune protection. 

Based on WHO data, the number of cases and the number of countries reporting the identification of these Omicron sub-variants is increasing.

Gradually, the sub-variant of Omicron BA.5 spread to Western Europe.

In recent weeks, Portugal has seen an increasing trend in the number of COVID-19 cases, with the share of BA.5 sub-variant increasing.

The new version of Omicron is the successor to the "stealth variant"

The observed faster spread of BA.4 and BA.5 is probably due to their ability to evade the immune defenses caused by previous infection and / or vaccination, especially if the immunity has weakened over time.

The limited data available from studies evaluating samples from unvaccinated individuals who were infected with Omicron BA.1 show that BA.4 and BA.5 are able to avoid immunity caused by BA.1 variant infection. from the Ministry of Health. 

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