Omicron BA.2.75 raises alarm in Telangana
Hyderabad: The surge of Covid infections driven by different variants of Omicron has just become even more complicated with geneticists reporting Covid infections due to BA.2.75, the new Omicron variant in different States including Telangana.
Between March and June 7, the average daily Covid infections in Telangana hovered between 55 and 65. Since then, there has been a steady rise and Covid cases have surged to an average of just above 550 infections per day with GHMC reporting over 300 infections. The hospitalisations, however, have been minimal with no fatalities.
The latest data from the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) data has indicated that the ongoing surge in Telangana and other States is largely due to BA. 4, BA. 5 and BA. 2.38.
However, in the last few days, the INSACOG has reported a total of 77 BA.2.75 infections from nine States — Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh.
The BA.5 variant was showing signs of becoming the dominant variant and was set to replace other BA.2 variants. However, the new reporting of the BA.2.75 Omicron variant has raised fears of a fresh surge with the potential to prolong the ongoing chain of daily Covid infections by a few more months.
The BA.2.75 variant is attracting attention because it is growing at a high rate of 16 per cent per day in India over other existing variants of Omicron. Senior health officials here have indicated that if BA.2.75 keeps growing at the present pace, then it could replace BA.5 in the coming days.
Senior health official and vaccine expert, Dr Vipin M Vashishtha had recently described the ongoing situation on Twitter: “BA.2 and its sub-lineages are prevalent in India at present; BA.4 and BA.5 have not caught up significantly. So BA.2.75 is competing with other BA.2 sub-lineages now”.
The BA.2.75 variant, because of its multiple mutations has acquired the ability to escape immunity gained by individuals through natural infection and vaccines, which could result in multiple re-infections within a few weeks.
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), due to multiple mutations, the Omicron variants are gaining the ability to evade the immunity (vaccine and natural) among individuals. As a result, it is now possible to be re-infected with an Omicron variant every two to three weeks, because even after infection, these variants are not providing immunity to the affected individuals.
“At present, there is no need to panic. Better masks, ventilation and completion of vaccination schedule for all are some of the preventive measures. This variant is not yet suggested to cause severe disease or increased mortality. The point to keep in mind is that the variant is continuously evolving and accumulating more mutations and it is too early to jump to conclusions,” senior scientist, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi, Dr Vinod Scaria, on Twitter, said.
