SANTIAGO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chile on Wednesday said it has detected four cases of BA.2, a sub-variant of COVID-19 Omicron strain.

Three of them were reported on Feb. 7, and a fourth on Feb. 13, Health Minister Enrique Paris told local media, adding two of the four cases are locally transmitted in the southern region of Magallanes and the other two are travelers who arrived in the Santiago Metropolitan region.

The sub-variant has so far been detected in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Peru, as well as some European countries.

New variants of the coronavirus "will continue to occur," Paris told local radio station.

"As long as there is no solidarity in the world, as long as there is no capacity for everyone to be vaccinated, strains and variants will continue to appear," he said.

Currently, 93 percent of the target population over 18 years of age have been fully vaccinated in the South American country.

Of children and adolescents aged 3-17, 78.59 percent have been fully vaccinated and 87.7 percent have been vaccinated with a first dose, just two weeks after in-person classes began at schools.