Why BA.5 became the dominant COVID variant - Salon

Charles Darwin's notion of the survival of the fittest, one of the tenets of his theory of evolution, epitomizes the manner in which subsequent mutations of the virus that are better-suited to spread have outcompeted each other — typically eradicating earlier, less-fit virus variants in the process.

Indeed, from the primordial alpha variant to the delta variant to omicron, new variants emerge when unique mutations make a strain either more contagious, or more capable of evading immunity from previous infections and vaccines.

"The omicron sub-variant BA.5 is the worst version of the virus that we've seen.".

"The omicron sub-variant BA.5 is the worst version of the virus that we've seen," Dr.

For the delta variant, which became the most dominant variant in late 2021, it had an R-naught of about 7?

The first version of omicron was estimated to have a R-naught value of 9.5, meaning one infected person would, in an uncontrolled situation, spread it to an average of 9.5 others.