Omicron sub-lineage BA.2.12 was detected in a majority of samples sequenced from Delhi in April, sources told CNN-News18. Eight new variants have been found of which one of them is dominant, they said, adding that it could be the likely cause behind rising cases in the national capital.
The information comes after Delhi reported 1,009 fresh Covid cases on Wednesday, a 60 per cent jump from the day before. Delhi started genome sequencing of samples of all Covid infected people to ascertain if a new variant, such as the XE, has spread in the city.
“New sub-variants BA.2.12 (52 per cent samples) and BA.2.10 (11 per cent samples) are showing high transmission and have been found in over 60 per cent of the total samples from Delhi sequenced recently,” an official source told PTI. “The BA.2.12 variant appears to have a growth advantage of about 30% to 90% per week over BA.2 (Omicron),” the source added.
A senior scientist told the news agency that the recent surge in Delhi is due to Omicron’s reproductive number being 10, the highest transmissible level, making its derivatives also have the same transmissibility and spread in absence of hand hygiene, social distancing and masks.
Officials said that the top five states in terms of new cases reported are: Delhi (1009), Haryana (3103), Uttar Pradesh (1684), and Maharashtra (1625) and Mizoram (103).
The Delhi government had on Wednesday made the wearing of masks mandatory in public places and announced a fine of Rs 500 on violators. Officials said the Delhi Disaster Management Authority has also decided not to shut schools and will come up with a separate Standard Operating Procedure in consultation with experts.
(With inputs from PTI)
Read all the Latest News India and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment