Sewage sampling results indicating no upsurge or new COVID variant in India: Dr NK Arora

A leading health expert stated on Tuesday that testing of sewage samples has not shown any new variants of COVID, implying that the chance of an increase in cases is quite low.

“The sewage sampling is being done and there also we are not getting any indication that either a new variant is here or there is a possibility of the upsurge of cases in the coming days or weeks,” Chairman of COVID-19 working group NTAGI, Dr NK Arora told ANI.

The official said that India has maintained to be in a “reasonably comfortable position” during the last 12 months.
“Our genomic surveillance system has identified almost 300 plus sub-variants of Omicron and they are spread all over the place. From time to time a certain sub-lineage becomes dominant. But the important point is that throughout the years we did not have any massive increase or surge in hospitalizations or deaths,” he said.

“Another important point is that the Omicron variants we are seeing in India are very much the same which are seen in any other parts of the world. And the second point is that they are not able to gain a foothold, or cause hospitalisation or severe disease,” the official added.

Dr Arora said that the country need not panic about the overall COVID situation, however, he suggested keeping a close watch.

“I would say the overall situation is something which we need not get panicky about. But the important point is that we have to keep a very close watch, in view of an upsurge in some of the other countries, European North American and East Asian countries,” he said.

On Monday Union Health Ministry also said that “Sentinel sequencing of 324 COVID Positive Samples reveals the presence of all Omicron Variants in Community.No mortality or rise in transmission was reported in areas where these variants were detected”.