Omicron subvariants BA.4, BA5 make up 19% of variants in Hawaii

Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 together now make up 19% of COVID-19 variants circulating in Hawaii, according to the state Health Department’s latest variant report.

The report, published late Wednesday, found via genome sequencing that subvariant BA.4 and its sublineages represented 6% of test specimens collected in Hawaii between June 5 to June 18. BA.5 and its sublineages represented 13% of those specimens.

For BA.4, that represents a more than three-fold increase from the previous two-week period, and for BA.5, that represents a more than four-fold increase from the previous two-week period, the report said.

Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1, meanwhile, made up 58% of variants circulating in the state, while BA.2 made up the remaining 23%.

The three subvariants – BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 — are believed to have an increased ability to evade therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, and antibodies elicited by vaccination or prior infection compared to BA.2.

All of the omicron subvariants are considered variants of concern.

Epidemiologists are most concerned about BA.5, which is considered the most transmissible so far, with an extensive ability to evade immunity, and currently the dominant lineage among new cases in the U.S.

The Hawaii Department of Health’s State Laboratories Division has detected 43 cases of BA.4 and BA.4.1, and 84 cases of BA.5 and its sublineages in the state in samples collected in May and June.

Both BA.4 and BA.5 are now present in all four major counties of Hawaii.