TABLE 2.

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (World Health Organization, 2020).

Name	First detected	Transmissibility	Disease severity
Omicron B.1.1.529	Botswana/South Africa November, 2021	Sublineages BA.1 and BA.1.1: Increased transmissibility compared with Delta	Sublineages BA.1 and BA.1.1: Decreased disease severity compared with Delta
		Sublineage BA.2: Increased transmissibility compared with BA.1	Sublineage BA.2: Similar disease severity as BA.1
Delta B.1.617.2	India Late, 2020	Increased transmissibility compared with Alpha	Increased disease severity compared with Alpha
Gamma P.1	Japan/Brazil January, 2021	Increased transmissibility compared with wild-type virus	Increased disease severity compared with wild-type virus
Beta B.1.351	South Africa July–August, 2020	Increased transmissibility compared with wild-type virus	Increased disease severity compared with wild-type virus
Alpha B.1.1.7	United Kingdom November, 2020	Increased transmissibility compared with wild-type virus	Increased disease severity compared with wild-type virus