BHUBANESWAR: Omicron sub-variants BA.2.38 and BA.2.73 could be driving the recent surge in the Khurda district which has seen a 10-fold rise in new Covid-19 cases in the last three weeks. The State has recorded the emergence of BA.2.38, a fast-dominating sub-variant of Omicron responsible for the spike in cases in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi and Kerala.
As per the latest whole genomic sequencing data, of the 40 samples sequenced at the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) here this week, four have been detected with BA.2.38 sub-lineage and three with BA.2.73. The Omicron variant of concern BA.2 remained the dominant variant with the rest of the samples. The samples sequenced this week were drawn from Khurda and Cuttack. While all 24 samples from a cluster in Cuttack were found with BA.2, the sub-variants BA.2.38 and BA.2.73 were detected from Khurda samples, most of which were from Bhubaneswar.
Odisha has been witnessing the surge in new cases since June 16 with Khurda leading the wave and accounting for more than 30 per cent (pc) of the caseload. The cases in the coastal district went up from 36 on June 24 to 361 on Saturday.
A scientist of ILS, part of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) said, the new offspring of Omicron might be driving the Covid infection in Khurda these days. The latest mutation has displaced the immunodominant antigen of BA.2 against which people have developed protection.
“Though BA.2 still continues to be the dominant variant in the State, the emergence of new sub-variants is expected to fuel infections for some time. Both the sub-lineages have not led to an increase in hospitalisation or disease severity so far in other parts of the country,” he clarified.
However, other sub-variants BA.2.75, BA.2.74 and BA.2.76 that have been classified as variants of interest for the rapid spike in infections in many states have not been detected in Odisha yet. The ILS scientists have also not found any sample with BA.4 and BA.5, which are dominant variants in many European countries and the US.
ILS Director Dr Ajay Parida said the lab is preparing to sequence more than 300 samples collected from different districts in the next couple of days, which will determine the spread of sub-variants in the State. Meanwhile, Odisha reported more than 1,000 new cases for the second consecutive day pushing the active cases to close to 5,000. Six districts contributed 71 pc of the cases. Of the 1,065 fresh cases, 361 were from Khurda, 135 from Cuttack and 111 from Sundargarh.
The test positivity rate (TPR) also rose to 5.45 pc. Three districts recorded a TPR of over 10 pc while five districts have a positivity rate of more than 5 pc. Khurda topped the list with 17.3 pc, followed by Sonepur (13.14 pc) and Sambalpur (10.62 pc).