Even as Covid-19 cases have seen a consistent fall in the number of daily cases reported in India, the Omicron variant may play spoilsport. According to Insacog scientists, Omicron’s BA.2.75 variant that has been the most dominant one may cause some serious trouble ahead of festive season, reports The Times of India.
According to Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), the Omicron variant is mutating further in parts of the country and is likely to become even more transmissible, reports TOI. Additionally, another cause for concern is that the variant may be immune evasive which could stir questions about vaccine efficacy. The BA.2.75 Omicron Variant has been known to be the “most immune evasive strain”.
Omicron has been around since late last year, with a series of super transmissible versions quickly displacing one another, and experts believe that “it will continue to mutate at least for the next few months,” adding that it’s likely a new variant distinct from omicron may also pop up.
In India, Maharashtra’s coordinator for genome sequencing, Dr Rajesh Karyakarte spoke to TOI and confirmed that the Omicron variant is “mutating further”. Dr Karyakarte said, “it is vying for dominance by packing in more immune evasive mutations.”
“This subvariant was found in recent samples in Maharashtra, but it remains to be seen if this ‘second child lineage’ will dominate the existing BA.2.75,” Dr Karyakarte told TOI. “In 71 recent samples from Pune, 20 had BA.2.75. BA.2.75.1 was in around 11 samples and BA.2.75.2 was found in nearly 17 samples. The rest had other Omicron sublineages. This shows BA.2.75.2 seems to be catching up with BA.2.75,” Karyakarte told TOI.
BA.2.75 and its sub lineages are reportedly found in 90% of samples sequenced in Maharashtra raising concerns over another spike in cases with the festive season just round the corner.
The INSACOG, set up under the health ministry in 2020 to study and monitor genome sequencing and virus variation of circulating strains of COVID-19 in India, reports genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 across the country through sequencing of samples from sentinel sites and international passengers arriving in India.
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