World Health Organisation flags new Omicron sub-variant in India

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 7

The WHO has flagged a new sub-variant of Omicron called BA.2.75 in India and some other countries saying fewer sequences are available but in preliminary studies the new sub lineage appears to have some mutations.

World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke of the sub-variant detection in India yesterday in his weekly press conference.

Globally, the number of weekly cases has increased for the fourth consecutive week, after a declining trend since the last peak in March 2022.

During the week of 27 June to 3 July, over 4.6 million new cases were reported, a figure similar to that of the previous week.

The number of new weekly deaths decreased by 12 per cent, with over 8100 fatalities reported.

At the regional level, the number of new weekly cases increased in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (+29%), the South-East Asia Region (+20%), the European Region (+15%), and the Western Pacific Region (+4%), while it decreased in the African Region (-33%) and the Region of the Americas (-18%).

The number of new weekly deaths increased in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (+34%) and the South-East Asia Region (+16%), while decreases were observed in the African Region (-50%), the Region of the Americas (-13%), the European Region (-12%) and the Western Pacific Region (-12%). As of 3 July 2022, over 546 million confirmed cases and over 6.3 million deaths have been reported globally.

The South-East Asia Region has been reporting an increasing trend in cases since early June, with over 1,57,000 new cases reported, a 20% increase as compared to the previous week. 

The highest numbers of new cases in South East Asia were reported from India (1,12,456 new cases; 8.1 new cases per 1,00, 000; a rise of 21 per cent), Thailand (15,950 new cases; 22.9 new cases per 1,00,000; a rise of 6 per cent) and Bangladesh (13,516 new cases; 8.2 new cases per 1,00,000; up 53 per cent).

The number of new weekly deaths in the region increased by 16 per cent as compared to the previous week, with over 350 new deaths reported. The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from India (200 new deaths).

“Globally reported cases have increased nearly 30 per cent over the past two weeks. Four out of six of the WHO subregions saw cases increase in the last week,” Ghebreyesus said.

On sub-variant BA.2.75, WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said BA.2.75 was first reported from India and then from 10 other countries.

“This sub-variant seems to have a few mutations on the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein. So obviously, that’s a key part of the virus that attaches itself to the human receptor. We have to watch that. It’s still too early to know if this sub-variant has properties of additional immune evasion or indeed of being more clinically severe,” she noted.