Omicron BA.2.12.1 Mutant: Omicron's mutant BA.2.12.1 has been found in Delhi and its surrounding areas. This may be the reason for the increase in corona cases recently. Top sources of INSACOG have given this information.
This is India's CORONA Virus Genomic Surveillance Project. Dr Sujit Kumar Singh, Director, National Institute of Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed to get BA.2.12.1 in Delhi. However, he did not give much information about this.
NCD C comes under the Health Ministry. It is leading the INSACOG project. Sources have told that the BA.2.12.1 variant has been found in the samples of many corona patients in Delhi. In the last few days, samples were taken from corona patients in Delhi and sent for genome sequencing.
The other variant BA.2.12 of Omicron BA.2 along with BA.2.12.1 was recently identified in the US. It was identified by scientists from the Centres for Disease Control in New York. It is said that this variant is involved in new cases of corona in America and some other parts.
What Scientists Have to say?
Scientists associated with INSACOG reported that the new subvariant is more infectious than BA.2. In January, BA.2 was very active in India. Then, it slowly faded away. Due to this, the cases of corona started decreasing.
A senior NCDC official said, "The presence of the BA.2.12.1 subvariant has been confirmed in the samples taken from the patients of COVID-19 in Delhi." He said that like ba.2 the new mutant is also capable of re-infecting people who have been previously infected with the coronavirus.
Another scientist associated with the COVID-19 Surveillance Program said that although there have been reports from New York that the BA.2.12.1 variant is more contagious than BA.2, it is yet to be independently confirmed in India.
Scientists are yet to find out how lethal the new variant is. Mild illness was observed in most people infected with Omicron BA.2. The main reason for this was hybrid immunity, which came due to vaccination and earlier infection.
What is Omicron BA.2.12.1 Mutant
Some researchers say that the mutated virus BA.2, like other variants of Omicron, BA.1, can only cause upper respiratory illness in most patients.
It does not affect the lungs. BA.2.12.1 The new subvariant found in India has not yet been declared as a Variant of Interest (Vol) or Variant of Concern (VoC) by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the last few days, there has been a surge in new cases of corona in India.
New cases have increased the most in Delhi and NCR. Released by the Health Ministry on 21st April The data states that in the last 24 hours, 2,380 new cases of corona have been reported in the country.
With this, the total number of active cases has increased to 13,433. A few days ago, the number of new cases in the country had come down to less than 1000. The number of active cases had come down to around 9,000.