Your handy guide to the latest COVID-19 subvariants and their implications
The Omicron variant of concern has splintered into multiple subvariants. So we’ve had to get our heads around these mutated forms of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, including BA.1 and the more recent BA.5.
We’ve also seen recombinant forms of the virus, such as XE, arising by genetic material swapping between subvariants.