BENGALURU: Two new SARS-CoV-2 mutants, BA.2.10 and BA.2.12, related to the Omicron sub-variant BA.2, have been found in Bengaluru, by INSACOG attached labs. However, sources, requesting anonymity, claimed that the data is too meagre to know the transmissibility features of these sublineages of BA.2.
“As per GISAID data, we have found BA.2.10 and BA.2.12, both sublineages of BA.2, in a few samples from Bengaluru. However, we need more samples and data to know more on this mutation. It is an alias of B.1.1.529.2.10, lineage from pango designation issue #496,” explained a scientist attached to the lab, seeking anonymity.
Bengaluru Urban has, in the past seven days, reported 300 cases, and the district has 1,428 active cases, according to data shared by the health department on Thursday. Special Commissioner BBMP (Health) Dr K V Thrilok Chandra, after a recent Covid review meeting, said he has no knowledge of any new mutation but has taken measures to ramp up surveillance in the city, to ensure they don’t miss any new variant.
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No need to panic: Expert
Dr Chandra said they have decided to conduct sewage surveillance in all 198 wards of the city. According to him, a high number of Covid-19 cases is coming from Mahadevapura and East Zone of the city, and sewage surveillance data has also corroborated this. However, in all these samples, the Omicron BA.2 variant is dominant, he explained.
The health department may soon increase Covid-19 testing numbers. Randeep D, Commissioner, Health and Family Welfare, told TNIE, “We are being vigilant and will increase testing soon. As of now, though Karnataka still has a Test Positivity Rate of below 1 per cent, Bengaluru on some days reached 1 per cent, but that has not been consistent too.”
Stressing the need for an increase in testing samples, Dr Manjunath CN, nodal officer for testing and member of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) said, “This Covid-19 virus seems to have a great memory. In the last three waves, we have seen a rise in cases first in Delhi, then Maharashtra, Kerala and four to six weeks later, Karnataka. The same pattern is being seen now too. This will also be a rapid rise-rapid fall kind of wave. We have to increase testing by at least 10-15 per cent, and tests should be done on all admitted patients, irrespective of medical issue.”
Meanwhile, in Delhi, INSACOG scientists admitted to have found the BA2.12.1 mutant, again a Omicron sublineage of BA.2, which is probably the reason for the current surge. Dr Angelique Coetzee, Chairperson, South African Medical Association, told TNIE, “We have also found the BA2.10 sub-lineage in South Africa, but there is nothing to worry about. The clinical picture is more or less the same as Omicron. There is no need to panic.”