Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants detected in Mumbai — here’s all you need to know

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Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants detected in Mumbai — here’s all you need to know
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  • The financial capital city of India recorded four cases of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
  • All the four patients were under home-isolation and have recovered from the infection.
  • BA.4 and BA.5 sub variants of Omicron are highly transmissible, first detected in South Africa earlier this year.
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Maharashtra’s capital city reported three BA.4 and one BA.5 cases of Omicron sub variant. However, all the four patients have fully recovered, said the Maharashtra Health Department on June 13.

Out of the four patients, two are 11-year-old girls, who are yet not eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine yet. The other two are men aged between 40-60 years.

As per report, all the four cases were found between May 14 - 24 and were under home isolation.

These two sub variants — BA.4 and BA.5 — are highly transmissible strains of Omicron which have already spread across 42 and 47 countries so far, respectively. The first case was detected in South Africa in the beginning of 2022.

BA.4 and BA.5 are not new viruses and no severe cases of hospitalization have been reported in patients with these sub variants in any of the countries where the cases are surging.

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“Basically, Omicron took off from one branch of the genomic tree and these are the smaller branches of Omicron itself so they are not new viruses. We know that this virus is continuously adapting to the human host in order to escape our immunity and also to travel faster between people,” Dr Jayadevan, Indian Medical Association's national task force's co-chairman, told news agency ANI.

As these are the sub variants of Omicron, no new symptoms are to be seen in these strains. Experts suggest that detection of new sub variants and rising cases in the country doesn’t necessarily mean a new wave or the fourth wave is afoot.
Active cases in Maharashtra jumped by almost 241% from over 5,000 to 17,000 in the last ten days. According to the health department data, Maharashtra recorded 9,354 COVID-19 cases in May, out of which 5,980 were reported from Mumbai.

Amid the surge in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, doctors and medical experts say that most of the patients are showing milder symptoms and the rate of fatality is quite low as compared to the other waves.

Union Health Minister Mandukh Mandaviya also asked the people to remain vigilant and keep following COVID measures as the pandemic is not yet over in the country.

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