Omicron Variant in India: Centre confirms BA.4 & BA.5 subvariants of Omicron in India | India News

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Sunday confirmed the presence of BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron in India.
A 19-year-old woman in Tamil Nadu has been found infected with the BA.4 variant of SARS-CoV-2, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) said in a statement.
“The patient has shown only mild clinical symptoms and has been fully vaccinated. The patient had no travel history. Before this, a South African traveler was reported positive for the BA.4 variant on arrival at Hyderabad airport,” it added.
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An 80-year-old man in Telangana has tested positive for the BA.5 variant SARS-CoV-2. The patient has shown only mild clinical symptoms and has been fully vaccinated. The patient had no travel history as well.
The Centre said that contact tracing of the BA.4. and BA.5 patients is being undertaken as a precautionary measure.
The BA.4 and BA.5 are subvariants of the Omicron variant circulating globally. These were reported first from South Africa earlier this year and are now reported from several other countries. These variants have not been associated with disease severity or increased hospitalisation.
On Sunday, the government reported 2,226 new coronavirus infections registered in the previous 24 hours. The total tally of Covid-19 cases has reached 4,31,36,371, while the active cases dipped to 14,955, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Sunday. The death toll climbed to 5,24,413 with 65 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.