New Delhi: Amid scare of third wave of Covid-19 pandemic, a new sub-lineage of the Delta variant, AY.4.2 has raised an alarm bell amongst scientists and academicians in India. The Indian SARS-CoV2-Genomic Consortia (INSACOG), however, allayed fears and said that the findings of this variant is very minimal in India.
The variant, AY.4.2 which has been already detected in United Kingdom, China and Russia has been detected in many States across India too including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra.
Expressing concern over the development, the Union Health Ministry has asked all the States and UTs to be alert on this new variant.
A total of 17 AY.4.2 cases have been reported including 7 in Andhra Pradesh, 4 in Kerala, 2 in Karnataka, 2 in Telangana, 1 each in J&K and Maharashtra.
"At present AY.4.2 is a variant under investigation in India. It seems to be more transmissible but may not be fatal," said ICMR scientist Dr Lokesh.
A team comprising members from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is currently investigating the variant.
Talking to ETV Bharat, Dr Anurag Agrawal, director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) said that based on the current evidence it is found that the variant at present is not a matter of concern.
"We can say more about this new variant following further investigation and study," said Dr Agrawal.
The Indian SARS-CoV2-Genomic Consortia in its latest bulletin said that due to greater diversity of Delta in India, PANGO classification may sometimes be inaccurate, especially for new sub-lineage.
PANGO classification is described as a cluster of sequences that are associated with epidemiological event. Researchers and public health experts use PANGO to track the transmission and spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus.
"Based on the case definition used by Public Health England (PHE), AY.4.2 is very infrequent (below 0.1 percent) in India. Most sequences from India that are being classified by PANGO as AY.4.2 have only either Y145H or A222V in spike, not both mutations appearing together," the INSACOG said.
The INSACOG further said that the recent global rise of AY.4.2 in genomic surveillance needs to be interpreted with caution due to technical issues with detection of Y145H mutation.
"There are reports of seven people in Andhra Pradesh infected with the new AY.4.2 Covid19 variant, which has created surge in UK, Russia and China," said Dr Tamorish Kole, president of Asian Society of Emergency Medicine.
He said that this offshoot or sub lineage of Delta includes some new mutations affecting the spike protein, which the virus uses to penetrate our cells.
"So far, there is indication that it is considerably more transmissible as a result of these changes, but studies are going on," said Dr Kole.
At this stage there is nothing to panic but people must maintain Covid appropriate behaviour, he said.
