Pune: The state’s first cases of infection with BA.4 and BA.5 variants of the Sars-CoV-2 have been detected in the city, the state health department report said on Saturday. The variants do not yet pose a concern as they are an offshoot of the Omicron variant, which has already spread widely in the country.
Four persons with BA 4 variant and three persons with B.A. 5 variants were identified in the Whole Genomic Sequencing (WSG) conducted by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in coordination with the B.J. Medical College, Pune. All patients had mild symptoms and were successfully treated at home.
State surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate said that while the transmission rate of the new subvariants was high, hospitalizations were unlikely to go up. “BA.5 and BA.5 are sub lineages of Omicron and not a new virus. They are not as severe as the earlier variants, as has been found elsewhere in the world. So, there is no need to panic as the eruption of BA.4 and BA.5 will not result in the increase in hospitalisation. Their high transmission rate may result in a surge in cases,” he said.
The samples of all seven residents of Pune city were collected between May 4 and 18. Four are men and three are women; four are more than 50 years old, while two are aged 20 and 40 years. One is 9 years of age. Two of them had a history of travel to South Africa and Belgium, while three others had travelled to Kerala and Karnataka. Beside the 9-year-old, all have received both doses of the Covid vaccine, and one had taken a precautionary dose as well.
“We have asked district administrations to increase testing, be alert for atypical presentations or cluster of cases,” Dr Pradeep Vyas, additional chief secretary, public health department, said.
Awate said that testing and tracing of contacts will be ramped up. “Genomic sequencing and research is a continuous process and it helps us in deciding on the further plan of action,” he said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has directed assistant commissioners of the 24 administrative wards in the city to ramp up testing, in light of increased number of cases in the city over the past few days. Officers have been asked to monitor cluster of cases, and increase tracing of high-risk contacts in areas where multiple covid-19 cases are being reported together. No separate orders have been given to collect samples for genome sequencing from such areas. The civic body has a general advisory for citizens to wear masks in public, maintain social distancing, and observe covid-19 hygiene over the next few weeks.
Last week, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) confirmed the detection of the Omicron subvariants in the country, with cases detected in Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has designated the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants as variants of concern (VOC) and said it had a 12%-13% growth advantage over the Omicron’s BA.2 sub-lineage.
“After finding mutations in Sars-CoV-2 virus of Kappa and Delta variant for first time, BJ Medical College helped identify of BA.4 and BA.5 for the first time in samples in Maharashtra,” Dr Rajesh Karyakarte, head of the microbiology department, BJ Medical College said.
The presence of these subvariants was also confirmed by the Indian Biological Data Center (IBDC) Faridabad.