JOHANNESBURG, Feb 10 (Reuters) — The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron is now the dominant COVID-19 variant in South Africa and has been detected in multiple other African countries, the head of the continent’s top public health body said on Thursday.

“We have data from South Africa that the BA.2 lineage has now become the predominant variant in South Africa,” said John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at a regular online media briefing.

He said BA.2 had been identified in Mozambique, Senegal, Botswana, Mauritius, Kenya and Malawi, adding that the sub-variant was likely to be present elsewhere but may not have been detected yet due to weaker surveillance systems.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning; writing by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Raissa Kasolowsky.)