The subvariant of the novel coronavirus that accounts for most COVID-19 infections in Quebec is more transmissible than the previous Omicron strain, but it is not more virulent, the province's public health institute said Tuesday.
About 90 per cent of new COVID-19 infections randomly screened in Quebec since mid-April involve the BA.2 subvariant, which replaced the original Omicron strain — BA.1 — responsible for a surge in infections last winter.
The institute's report found that vaccines were 10 per cent to 40 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic infections in the six months after the second dose. A third dose increased the effectiveness against symptomatic infection to between 40 per cent and 74 per cent.
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