‘BA.4, BA.5 subvariants inflicting COVID spike in Bengal’: Experts sound warning

By PTI

KOLKATA: Genome sequencing of Covid constructive samples has revealed that Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 have began changing the BA.2 various that precipitated the surge in instances of the an infection in West Bengal earlier this 12 months, a senior official of the state well being division mentioned on Thursday.

According to specialists, it’s largely subvariant BA.5, which has options an identical to BA.2, that’s accountable for the latest spike in coronavirus instances within the state.

“We have been conducting genome sequencing on positive samples in West Bengal. A few subvariants of Omicron, mostly the BA.4 and BA.5 was found. But there is nothing to worry about. The BA.5 subvariant though highly infectious is not that threatening, at least for those who have no comorbidities,” Siddhartha Niyogi, director of well being providers mentioned on Thursday.

“Examinations of the samples showed that the subvariant BA.5 is gradually replacing the BA.2,” he mentioned.

Most of the Covid samples despatched to National Institute of BioMedical Genomics in Kalyani for genome sequencing examined constructive for the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron together with some BA.4.

Kheya Mukherjee, the affiliate professor of the division of microbiology at Beliaghata ID&BG Hospital held the Omicron subvariant BA.5 accountable for the latest surge in COVID instances in Bengal.

The state, she mentioned, will witness increasingly more instances within the subsequent few weeks because the infectivity charge of BA.5 is “much more” than its predecessor, the BA.2, she mentioned.

“The steep rise in the number of Covid cases in Bengal is primarily due to this subvariant BA.5. There are cases where subvariant BA.4 is present. There are cases which are still caused by BA.2. I doubt how complicated BA.5 will be compared to BA.2 subvariant because most of the people are vaccinated. The infection will be mild and the fatality rate will be low as well,” Mukherjee advised PTI.

The microbiologist additionally predicted that the an infection will scale up within the coming days and may attain a peak earlier than receding.

“In the state, the contagion has almost doubled in just five days and it shows that there will be several thousands of infections in a day. It may reach a peak at one point of time and then start receding,” she mentioned.