As the researchers detect yet another sub-strain of the novel coronavirus, it is safe to say that the pandemic is not ending anytime soon. For most of the world that has started looking at the Covid-19 infections in rearview mirror, here’s a ready reckoner.
The World health Organization has now confirmed that a new variant of Omicron is circulating in India. The sub-lineage strain has now been designated as BA.2.75. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that there has been a significant increase in the global case count.
As per WHO data, nations around the globe witnessed a spike of around 30 per cent in terms of the new infections. In terms of dominant strain, BA.4 and BA.5 are responsible for current wave of infections in Europe and the United States.
In India, BA.2.75 has emerged on the Covid radar. The WHO says that it is following the trend of the variant. First detected in India, BA.2.75 has now been reported from over ten nations.
Elaborating about the new sub-variant, WHO’s Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan has said that it is too early to say anything because very limited sequencing data is available. Dr Swaminathan added that this variant of the novel coronavirus has few mutations on the spike protein. So, researchers are still probing whether this sub-strain has features that may lead to hospitalisation or not.
India, however, has not officially announced the detection of this sub-variant so far.
