Battle for supremacy between Omicron variants fuelling Covid infections in Telangana

Hyderabad: It has literally become a battle for supremacy to gain a firm footing in the community between different circulating variants of Omicron including BA.5, BA 2.75, BA 2.38 and to some extent even BA.2 that have triggered the ongoing surge of Covid infections in Telangana and elsewhere in the country, public health officials and […]

Hyderabad: It has literally become a battle for supremacy to gain a firm footing in the community between different circulating variants of Omicron including BA.5, BA 2.75, BA 2.38 and to some extent even BA.2 that have triggered the ongoing surge of Covid infections in Telangana and elsewhere in the country, public health officials and geneticists tracing the variants, said.

As a result, the daily Covid infections have been steadily on the rise. For the past one week, the average daily Covid infections in Telangana have surged and are hovering between 700 and just below 900 cases while the daily number of infections in areas under GHMC has ranged between 350 and 450.

---

On Sunday, Telangana reported 705 Covid infections out of which 355 cases were from areas under GHMC.

Despite the rise in daily Covid infections, Telangana has not witnessed a major surge in hospital admissions. As on Sunday, at government and private hospitals, oxygen beds are occupied by 104 Covid positive patients and 37 ICU beds are occupied in private hospitals. A total of 93 regular beds in both government and private hospitals are occupied by Covid positive patients, the State Covid health bulletin said.

At present there are close to 5,500 active Covid infections in Telangana but a majority of them who are in isolation are able to recover without any complications within five to six days. “That’s the reason why, the average number of individuals or patients who are recovering from Covid infections is hovering over 600 on a daily basis,” senior health officials here said.

Based on the genetic sequencing data available with Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), the BA 2.38 is the dominant Omicron strain that is active in multiple Indian States including Telangana, followed by BA. 2.75, BA 5.2 and BA. 2.76.