Cases skyrocket again after last year’s 2nd wave
The omicron variant of covid-19 has reached the community transmission stage, and can be seen in metro cities as cases skyrocket. The virus has become very dominant according to INSACOG.
INSACOG, short for Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium, studies variations across the nation and tries to understand how the virus spreads and evolves, following which it suggests the best possible public health responses.
The center’s research team has stated that BA.2 lineage, an infectious sub-variant of the omicron virus, has also been detected among a considerable number of citizens.
Most omicron cases remain asymptomatic or mild, yet hospitalization has increased at a steady pace and thereby posing a threat to public health, INSACOG stated in a bulletin.
Major metro cities such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Delhi recorded a total of 2250, 1643 9197, and cases respectively in the last 24 hours.
“Omicron is now in community transmission in India and has become dominant in multiple metros, where new cases have been rising exponentially. BA.2 lineage is in a substantial fraction in India and S gene (a gene variation of covid-19 like omicron) dropout based screening is thus likely to give high false negatives.” INSACOG.
The world health organization (WHO) has said that due to multiple mutations, the S-gene is not present in the omicron variant hence becoming an indicator in the identification of omicron.
With a fear of getting the virus, people are rushing to get RT-PCR S-gene failure test done in private labs, and among them, 45-64 % are coming back positive.
“The recently reported B.1.640.2 lineage is being monitored. There is no evidence of rapid spread and while it has features of immune escape, it is currently not a variant of concern. So far, no case has been detected in India.” Said INSACOG.
“Further spread of omicron in India is now expected to be through internal transmission, not foreign travelers, and a revised sampling and sequencing strategy of INSACOG is being worked out to address genomic surveillance objectives in the wake of dynamic changing scenario of virus infection” stated INSACOG.
India’s daily COVID cases have increased to a whopping 3, 06,064 in the last 24 hours which is slightly lower than yesterday’s 3.33 lakh cases. With a total of 3.92 crore cases, India remains the second worst-hit country after the United States.
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