New COVID Omicron Sub-variant Found In India: WHO

A new sub-variant BA.2.75 of the Omicron variant of COVID- 19 has been detected in various countries including India, World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

“On COVID- 19, globally reported cases have increased nearly 30 per cent over the past two weeks. Four out of six of the WHO sub-regions saw cases increase in the last week,” Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing.

“In Europe and America, BA.4 and BA.5 are driving waves. In countries like India a new sub-lineage of BA.2.75 has also been detected, which we’re following,” he also added.

During the press briefing on Wednesday, WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that there has been an emergence of a sub-variant that's being called the BA.2.75 which was first reported from India and also from about 10 other countries.

She also added “There are still limited sequences available of the sub-variant to analyse, but this sub-variant seems to have a few mutations on the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein. So obviously, that’s a crucial part of the virus that attaches itself to the human receptor. So we've to watch that. It’s still too early to know if this sub-variant has properties of additional immune evasion or indeed of being more clinically severe. We don’t know that, So we've to wait and see. “

WHO Incident Manager COVID- 19 Abdi Mahamud said that now isn't the time to declare that the pandemic is over. “We’re still in the midst of the pandemic and the virus has a lot of force left. So whether it's the BA.4 or BA.5 or BA.2.75, the virus will continue. It does what it does good,” he said.

He also added that people and communities must continue to wear masks, avoid crowds and ensure that the most vulnerable and high-risk population is protected.

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