Omicron and its sub-lineages circulating predominantly in India: Report

During a weekly conference, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) examined data from genomic monitoring of variants and discovered that Omicron and its sub-lineages are now the most common mutations circulating in India.

“Presently, only Omicron and its sub-lineages are the predominant circulating variants in India,” sources told ANI today.

“The COVID-19 cases are rising, but hospitalization and deaths are still less,” said sources.

“We review the data every week, but there is no need to panic at all because hospitalization hasn’t increased and no new variant has been found so far,” added sources.

INSACOG will issue a notice soon on the existence of Omicron sub-lineages.

According to the bulletin issued on July 11 by INSACOG, Omicron and its sub lineages continue to be the dominant variant in India. “BA.2.75 sub-variant has acquired more mutations in spike protein and other genes of the SARS-CoV-2,” and it also mentioned that the variant is being closely monitored.

INSACOG was founded by the Union Health Ministry and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

“COVID-19 is a cyclical viral disease like many others. Immunity from infection is short-lived for coronaviruses, unlike measles or chicken pox viruses. Newer Omicron sub-lineages are especially capable of leaping past the immunity generated by older versions of the same variant,” said Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, co-Chairman of National Indian Medical Association’s COVID-19 task force.

“The longer we are past the recent infection or the last vaccine dose, the more the number of susceptible people in a region. Many people are not following basic precautions now, and therefore making the virus spread by aerosol is easier. The public must understand that the virus has not gone away,” he said further.