"BA.2.10 and BA.2.12 are BA.2 sub-lineages that have been detected and many old BA.2 sequences have been reclassified into these new sub-lineages. So far these sub-lineages are not reported to be associated with increased severity of disease," the bulletin said, adding that so far there are no reports of XE clusters across India.
“New variants of the virus are being discovered around the world almost every other day, and many more will emerge as time passes. We have to understand that unless a variant is deemed as a ‘variant of concern’ by the WHO, we need not be worried about it,” added Jain.
So-called “gain-of-function” studies, which look at what mutations SARS-CoV-2 needs to spread more efficiently, have identified plenty of mutations that improve the spike protein’s ability to bind to human cells that omicron doesn’t have. Besides this, improvements could be made to other aspects of the virus life cycle, such as genome replication
There may be some more cases in other hospitals as Delhi government has designated four more private hospitals for the treatment.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo confirmed on Monday in a tweet that he became the first to die from Omicron in the county.
The Covid situation in the country, he said, is under control but measures are being taking to pervent it from spreading further.
pan has already suspended the exemption for people who have recently been to any of nine African countries including Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Testing, quarantine and genome sequencing will be mandatory for those coming from outside, particularly from other foreign countries. Instructions have been issued to districts and urban local bodies to monitor and screen the people coming from outside along with intensive testing to prevent outbreak of the Covid-19 variant Omicron, said Health Services Director Bijay Mohapatra quoting the contents of the revised guidelines.
The variant, believed to be more infectious than all previous strains, was first detected in South Africa and flagged as a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday.
The strain was discovered in a genomic sequencing test that took an Israeli who returned from Malawi, the Ministry said.
