Nicola Sturgeon has announced 26 cases of a new “sub” variant of Omicron have been detected.
The First Minister said there is “no evidence” that BA.2 leads to more serious illness, but added it may be more transmissible than conventional Omicron.
Scientists have been monitoring BA.2, which has been designated as a covid variant under investigation.
In a statement to MSPs, Sturgeon said: "I can confirm that in Scotland 26 cases of BA.2 have been confirmed through genomic sequencing - but we would expect this number to increase as more sequencing results are reported.
“And given that not all tests are able to be genomically sequenced, it will be an underestimate of the presence of this sub variant here.”
She said the variant is not a “cause for alarm”, adding: “It is important to stress that, at this stage, there is no evidence that BA.2 causes more severe disease than the main Omicron variant.
“Nor, at this stage, is there any evidence that BA.2 has any greater ability to escape the immunity conferred by vaccines or previous infection. "
She also said: “BA.2 does appear to have the ability to out-run the main Omicron variant, which may indicate that it is more transmissible.”
“Investigations into this are ongoing, both in the UK and in other countries, such as Denmark, where the sub-variant has been circulating for longer.”
More broadly, Sturgeon said the baseline Covid measures currently in place would remain for at least another three weeks.
The First Minister said: “The most recent data continues to give grounds for optimism, the situation we are in now is much less severe than we had thought it might be.
“That said, case numbers remain high.”
She said cases had risen slightly this week compared to last week, up by 2%.
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