Following the detection of the first community case in Samoa on 17th March 2022 and subsequent increase in community cases, more than 50 samples of positive cases were prepared and sent to New Zealand for genomic sequencing.
The results returned yesterday afternoon confirmed that it is the BA.1 sub lineage of the Omicron variant that is now in the community.
This sub lineage of the Omicron variant was common in many countries since the beginning of this year, however the most recent BA.2 sub lineage of the Omicron variant appears to have displaced the BA.1 in many countries including New Zealand and Australia.
