Covid-19: INSACOG confirms presence of BA.4, BA.5 subvariants of Omicron in India

Central body INSACOG on Sunday confirmed the detection of BA.4 and BA.5 variants of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in India – the first one in Tamil Nadu and other in Telangana. India had reported the first case of Omicron BA.4 sub-variant in Hyderabad. First detected in South Africa, it is highly transmissible.

According to scientists associated with the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) said that from India, details of a BA.4 sub-variant were entered on GISAID, a global science initiative that provides open access to genomic data of influenza viruses and the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

In early May, the World Health Organisation (WHO) that sublineages, BA.4 and BA.5, of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, first detected in South Africa “have acquired a few additional mutations that may impact their characteristics”.

India logged 2,226 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 4,31,36,371, while the active cases dipped to 14,955, according to the Union health mMinistry data updated on Sunday. The death toll climbed to 5,24,413 with 65 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.