Situation Report of COVID-19 in the ASEAN Region - 07 September 2022

Global Update

• Worldwide, there have been over 612 million cases and over 6 million deaths attributed to COVID-19. Research Update

• In a recent study, researchers from Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and others, have characterized the new omicron variant BA.2.75, comparing its ability to evade antibodies against current and previous variants.6 The study, published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, suggests that BA.2.75 is not more resistant to antibodies than the currently dominating BA.5.6 Tests were carried out using 40 random blood samples taken in Stockholm, both before and after the first omicron wave.6 According to the author, the study shows that omicron BA.2.75 has approximately the same level of resistance to antibodies as the dominant variant BA.5, which is reassuring news if we were to suffer a BA.2.75 wave in Sweden.6