Even when Covid cases from the Omicron variant are declining in India, experts are closely monitoring its BA.2 lineage and its clinical correlation with the other lineage and instances leading to hospitalisation. The sub-lineage has replaced the dominant Delta variant from the second wave and preliminary findings indicate it could lead to severity and death in some patients. Ten laboratories currently are studying the clinical correlation of Omicron’s BA.2 sub-lineage and hospitalisations.
Institutions like Lok Nayak Hospital, AIIMs, New Delhi, Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Mumbai, CMC-Vellore, National Institute of BioMedical Genomics in Kolkata, Gandhi Medical College-Secunderabad have been involved in these studies.
Preliminary findings suggest Omicron can be fatal in some people and its severity can increase with age and presence of underlying medical conditions. More data is being collected to further find out how clinical markers like ventilation, use of oxygen, and deaths are associated with the Omicron variant.
The BA.2 sub lineage was detected in Denmark, the UK and now comprises one fifth of the total Omicron cases across the world.
According to Co-Chairman National IMA COVID Task Force Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, the new lineage cannot affect those who have already been affected by the BA.1 sub variant. He is also hopeful that it cannot cause another surge even when it is more transmissible than its predecessor.
Jayadevan also told ANI that the virus will be around for a long time and another surge is expected only when another variant emerges and if history is to be believed it can happen once inevitably in six to eight months, that is typically how it acts.
Dr Sujit Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) told The Indian Express that BA.2 sub-variant was detected in 80 per cent of the samples sequenced in January and there is no reason to believe that it causes more severity than BA.1. He cited the increased hospital discharges and decreased new admissions.
Maharashtra on the other hand is trying to find out the reason for incidental deaths. Genome sequencing of samples has been stepped up. According to Dr Pradeep Vyas, State Additional Chief Secretary (Health) the BA.2 lineage can have different presentations.
Overall Maharashtra witnessed 11 lakh new Covid cases in the last two months but the mortality rate from December 15 to present is about 0.1 per cent. There had been 1,690 deaths in the state from January till mid-February, says official records. A total of 470 belonged to the 71-80 age group, 378 were in the 61-70 age group and 277 deaths occurred in the 81 to 90 age group.
Dr Shashank Joshi, an expert member of the state’s Covid-19 task force doesn’t find any of the lineages to be lethal and the Omicron wave is receding . Mortality occurred only in some vulnerable immune-compromised groups and there is no need to panic, he further asserted.
