'Omicron predominant circulating VoC of Covid-19': Experts as India logs 13,086 new cases
So far 10 states in India have reported BA.2.75 variants including Delhi and Maharashtra
Official sources on Tuesday said that the current predominant Variant of Concern of SARS-CoV-2 is the Omicron variant. This comes a day after the detection of a new sub-variant of Omicron - BA.2.75 in several states of India.
Officials have also said that globally, the BA.2 Omicron lineage has been seen to replace the BA.1 lineage.
So far 10 states have reported BA.2.75 variants including Delhi and Maharashtra, which saw massive surge in infections during previous waves. Indian Health Ministry is yet to officially confirm the detection of the sub-variant in the country.
India on Tuesday witnessed a dip in daily Covid cases by a margin of over 3,000 infections. Down from yesterday's 16,135 fresh infections, the country reported 13,086 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours, informed the Union Health Ministry today.
Meanwhile, Dr. Shay Fleishon of the Central Virology Laboratory at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer said, it is "too soon to tell" whether BA.2.75 will be the next dominant variant, he noted that the sub-variant may be "alarming because it may imply a trend to come".
Even though second generation sub-variants of the Omicron lineage have been the cause of existent coronavirus cases, not many cases of the similar variant has been reported from any one region. Only very few cases have been reported.
At such a time, the second generation sub variant- Omicron BA.2.75 is the first kind that has spread to multiple regions. "The fact that such a divergent 2nd gen variant can succeed inter-host is alarming. It means that if BA.2.75 will not succeed, and even if it will, other 2nd gen might grow better over time," Fleishon said.
Meanwhile, the number of active Covid cases in India went past the 1.14 lakh mark. The daily positivity rate on Tuesday stood at 2.90% whereas the weekly positivity rate was 3.80%.
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