India on alert over new highly mobile Covid ‘AY. 4.2’ variant

October 25, 2021 34 Views No Comment

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, OCT 25 (AGENCIES): A new mutated form (AY.4.2) of the coronavirus that has caused panic in Europe as it’s presumably more contagious than Delta is present in India “in very low numbers”, said scientists of the INSACOG network monitoring variations in SARS-CoV-2. AY.4.2 is suspected to be the cause for the exponential rise in Covid-19 cases in the UK, Russia (a lockdown will start in Moscow next week) and Israel last week.

However, scientists say the AY.4.2-related findings still carry a high level of uncertainty, and it is still early to say this lineage carries higher risk of illness and/or death. On October 21, the US Centers for Diseases Control said it has less than 10 reported cases of AY.4.2 in its database so far, but the UK health authorities have found 15,120 cases of VUI-21OCT-01—the other name for AY.4.2—since it was first detected in July.

Dr Anurag Agrawal, director at CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) in Delhi, said, “AY.4.2 is present in India based on the revised definition, but at very low numbers, less than 0.1%.” IGIB is one of the main laboratories involved in the INSACOG genomic surveillance exercise.

Dr Agrawal said further details and the exact number of AY.4.2 in India would be available soon. AY.4.2 is a descendant of the Delta variant, which has so far been considered the most dangerous form, affecting millions.

The lineage AY.4 was considered the fastest growing in many continents, including India, in the last three months until the UK health authorities earlier this week announced the spread of AY.4.2.

AY.4.2 up to 15% more transmissible, may be named ‘Nu’: A sub-variant of the Covid Delta strain — AY.4.2 — may be up to 15 per cent more transmissible than the original Delta, scientists estimate. AY.4.2 made up almost 10 per cent of all infections in England in the fortnight ending October 9, the Daily Mail reported.

AY.4.2, which is one of 45 sub-lineages of Delta and dubbed by many as Delta plus, is likely to be named as Nu, the report said. The strain could be the most infectious subvariant seen since the pandemic began, Professor Francois Balloux, director of the University College London Genetics Institute, was quoted as saying to the Financial Times.