With two States—Telangana and now Tamil Nadu—indicating reports of confirmed cases of the BA.4 Omicron variant, the Centre is keeping a constant watch on their status and asked the States to share the details of the patients regularly to it.
Sources in the Union Health Ministry said that a team will soon be sent to the two States if required to investigate into their history as well as to consult the authorities for further steps to be taken.
On Saturday, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian had said that initial reports from a whole genome sequencing lab have indicated the possibility of a similar variant among one of the patients in the state.
The patient, a 19-year-old resident of a gated community in Navalur in Chennai who tested positive on May 9, has recovered from the viral infection. But her mother who was also positive for the viral infection during the same time he was carrying the BA. 2 variant. Neither of them had a travel history.
Earlier this month, scientists said two Omicron sub-lineages -- BA.4 and BA.5 – were threatening to trigger a new wave of Covid-19 infections in South Africa, but there is no evidence to show that these variants can trigger more complications and death.
The BA.4 variant was first detected in a specimen collected in Limpopo, South Africa, on January 10 and has since been detected in all South African provinces.
On May 4, the teenager and her 45-year-old mother who had a flu-like illness gave their samples for testing at a private lab. They tested positive for the viral infection. “The patients self-isolated themselves at home and recovered in three days. They resumed work in a week,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.
Two other family members -- the teen’s father and grandmother -- did not have symptoms. While the grandmother has taken one dose of the vaccine, others have taken two doses of the vaccine.
“We are awaiting confirmation at the national level by NCDC. Two members of a family usually carry the same variant if they are affected at the same time. In this case we think the source of infection for mother and daughter could be different,” Radhakrishnan said.
According to reports, Telangana has reported India's first case of Omicron subvariant BA.4, detected through a genomic surveillance program. "The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) has confirmed the first case of the BA.4 Omicron variant in India has been reported from Hyderabad," according to a news agency.
The BA.4 and BA.5 variants of Omicron have been detected during the fifth Covid-19 wave in South Africa and have also been reported in the US and Europe