Comments
Concerns about the Omicron sub-variant BA.2 should not result in panic in India, said renowned virologist T Jacob John on Monday. Talking to BusinessLine, John said there is no need to worry as the Omicron wave, which was majorly driven by BA.2 sub-variant, is already receding fast. He said though the BA.2 variant is at least 30 per cent more transmissible than the BA.1 variant, the symptoms are more or less the same.
‘Only mild difference in variant’
“The Omicron wave which is majorly driven by the BA.2 variant in the country is already receding. Both BA.1 and BA.2 are both the sub-lineages of Omicron. There is very little difference between BA.1 and BA.2.
“They are vastly different in their mutation on RBD and S protein compared to Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. The difference between alpha, beta, gamma and delta was huge. The difference between BA1 and BA 2 within Omicron is very minor,” Jacob added.
“In the RT-PCR test, if the S-gene amplifies, then it is BA 2. It is not amplified in BA 1. But everything else is the same between both the sub-variants of Omicron,” John said.
On Monday, India reported 16,051 Covid cases with 206 deaths in the last 24 hours till 8:00 am, the Health Ministry data says. In Kerala, the cases have been the highest across all the States at 4,069 with 11 deaths on Monday evening. According to sources, the cases in Kerala are surging because of vaccine hesitancy in some parts of the State as also due to its relatively aging population. In Maharashtra, the cases were at 806 with 4 deaths. The daily positivity rate in the country stood at 1.93 per cent.
‘Need no panic’
Meanwhile, a Health Ministry source said that there may be some surge in cases after March 15, as the States in which elections are being held, the testing has come down significantly, but after the election gets over, there might be some surge in those States. However, there is no need to panic as the symptoms are mild in the Omicron wave but people should follow the protocols of Covid appropriate behaviour.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.