‘Centaurus sub-variant led to high Cov infection rate in state’

Ranchi: The increase in the infection rate of Covid-19 in Jharkhand during June and July was caused by the ‘Centaurus’ sub-variant of the Omicron (BA.2.7) variant and experts believe that this sub-variant will be responsible for further waves in the state and the country.
The finding came to light after the department of genetics and genomics at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) released a report on their second batch of samples which had undergone genome sequencing.
According to the report, a total of 192 samples from different RT-PCR sentinel sites across the state were tested for whole genome sequencing and the majority of the samples have shown the presence of the Centaurus sub-variant.
Talking to TOI, Rims director Dr Kameshwar Prasad said, “Samples from three sentinel sites in Jamshedpur and two each from Ranchi and Hazaribag underwent the whole genome sequencing tests and the Centaurus sub-variant was detected in the majority of the samples. The samples tested in the second batch were collected in June and July when the state saw a rise in infections. So, we can say that the infection in the recent months was due to this sub-variant of Omicron.”
The sentinel sites from where the samples were collected included Tata Main Hospital (97), Tata Motors Hospital (37) and Advanced Diagnostics (13) in Jamshedpur, Sheikh Bhikari Medical College (12) and Shree Mahaveer Hospital (5) in Hazaribag. Twenty-three samples came from Rims and five from Sona Diagnostics in Ranchi.
Dr Anupa Prasad, the department head of genetics and genomics in Rims, said, “Out of 192 samples which underwent a test in this batch, the data of 180 samples were studied out of which 12 samples were discarded. Of the remaining samples, we detected Centaurus in 60% of them and it is this sub-variant prevalent in the state during the recent wave.”
On whether Centaurus is a variant of concern, Dr Prasad said, “The main driver of the third Covid-19 wave was the Omicron and its sub-variants but Centaurus will be responsible for the next wave of the pandemic in the country. Omicron sub-variants like BA.2, BA.2.38, BA.2.43, BA.4, BA.5 and others which were prevalent during the third wave of the pandemic are being rapidly replaced by the Centaurus sub-variant and it has been proved by the analysing the time series data of the sequenced samples.”
Doctors, however, said the variant doesn’t have a high mortality rate though it is highly infectious. “The mortality rate will not be higher in the Centaurus sub-variant cases but its infection rate is very high and people must follow Covid appropriate behaviours,” said Dr Pooja Sahai, a clinical microbiologist and director of the Micropraxis Lab.