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An investigation is underway into the Delta Plus Covid subvariant, also called AY.4.2. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said today it has designated AY.4.2 as a “Variant Under Investigation”, saying there was some evidence that it could be more transmissible than Delta.

UKHSA said: “The designation was made on the basis that this sub-lineage has become increasingly common in the UK in recent months, and there is some early evidence that it may have an increased growth rate in the UK compared to Delta.

“While evidence is still emerging, so far it does not appear this variant causes more severe disease or renders the vaccines currently deployed any less effective.”

According to latest official data, AY.4.2 has been identified in about six percent of Covid cases in the UK.

There are concerns it could be 10 percent more transmissible than the Delta variant, says Professor Francois Balloux, director of genetics at University College London.

This could make it the most infectious yet.

However, experts have said it is unlikely to be more severe than other variants.

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Dr Len Horovitz, pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, said that being “more transmissable” does not mean “more dangerous”.

He explained that it simply means the virus’s incubation period is shorter and therefore can be transmitted faster and spread more easily.

Dr Horovitz also confirmed to Healthline that it is unlikely the AY.4.2 variant can escape the current vaccines. 

AY.4.2 contains two mutations in its spike protein, called A222V and Y145H. The spike protein sits on the outside of the coronavirus and helps the virus to enter cells.

Ravi Gupta, a professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge, says these mutations were not of particular concern and had been seen in other Covid variants.

He told the Guardian: “A222V has been seen in other lineages of Delta. It doesn’t have a really large effect on the virus.”

He added that similar mutations to Y145H had been seen in the Alpha variant and other variants. While these appear to have an effect on the binding between antibodies and the virus, Gupta said he believed they “are not really significant mutations”.

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