New Omicron sub-lineage, discovered by South African scientists this month, is able to evade vaccines and natural immunity from potential infections.
India on Sunday confirmed the first cases of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants in the country. Omicron subvariant BA.4 was reported in Tamil Nadu where a 19-year-old woman tested positive for the strain. On the other hand an 80-year-old man in Telangana tested Omicron subvariant B4.5 positive, becoming the first case of the strain in the country.
The central body INSACOG, under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has confirmed about it. According to INSACOG, both the patients who tested positive for BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variant have shown mild clinical symptoms. They were both vaccinated and had not travel history.
Read | How deadly is Omicron sub-variant BA.4, know what experts say
Contract tracing of both the patients were being carried out as part of the precautionary measure, the central body said. Due to the Omicron variant of Covid-19, there was an outbreak of the third wave of the pandemic in India during the beginning of this year in February-March.
The new Omicron sublineage, discovered by South African scientists this month, is able to evade vaccines and natural immunity from potential infections. The head of the Gene Sequencing Unit said that a study has been prepared on the sub-variants.
Mild symptoms in both patients
While the woman has got mild symptoms of the infection, what surprises is that the woman had received both the doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, yet she got infected with the new strain of Omicron. Meanwhile, a South African passenger was found to be infected with the sub-variant of Omicron at the Hyderabad airport.
According to INSACOG, an 80-year-old male in Telangana has tested positive for BA.5 variant SARS CoV 2. Mild symptoms of infection have been found in the patient and he too had received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. No travel history of the patient has been found.
Covid-19 infection is still not over completely in India. According to the Union Health Ministry, the number of infected patients in India has reached 4,31,36,371. At present, the number of active cases in India is 14,955, while 5,24,413 people have died due to this virus in the whole country.
Know everything about BA.4 and BA.5
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) last week designated the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants as 'variant of concurrence'.
The ECDC said that all variants can increase the infection. These sub-variants have the ability to infect people 12% to 13% faster than Omicron's sub-variant BA.2.
Omicron's BA.4 and BA.5 are both associated with a fifth Covid-19 wave in South Africa, and more recently in the United States and many countries of Europe.
Because Omicron had spread rapidly and had many opportunities to mutate, it also acquired specific mutations of its own. These have given rise to many sub-variants.
The first two sub-variants of Omicron were labeled BA.1 and BA.2. The current list now also includes BA.1.BA.2, BA.3, BA.4 and BA.5.
Evidence suggests these subtypes can reinfect people with previous infections from BA.1 or other lineages. There is also concern that they may infect vaccinated people.
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 "India confirms 1st cases of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5")
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