INSACOG to meet to determine presence of new Covid variant in Delhi

The review will take place at the backdrop of a media report quoting NCDC director Sujit Singh on the discovery of the new variant

Has a new SARS-CoV-2 variant surfaced in Delhi? While there is no official word on the emergence of the BA.2.12.1 variant in the national capital, scientists from India’s genome surveillance network will meet here on Friday to scour the data in an effort to determine its existence and possible role behind the surge in Delhi.

The review will take place at the backdrop of a media report quoting the National Centre for Disease Control director Sujit Singh on the discovery of the new variant in Delhi, though he did not elaborate on its role behind the recent rise in Covid cases in Delhi and its neighbouring areas.

Scientists at Indian SARS-CoV Genomic Consortium (INSACOG) said a detailed review of the raw data at the NCDC and National Institute for Biomedical Genomic would be required to establish its presence.

Neither Singh nor officials at the Union Health Ministry responded to DH queries on the new variant, which has been reported from the USA in the past few days. Early scientific evidence suggests it being more transmissible than the BA.2 variant.

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“There is a possibility that new variants of Omicron are emerging. Many samples were sequenced at ILBS. I think there are eight variants of Omicron. Which one is the dominating variant, we will know soon,” said SK Sarin, director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in Delhi.

Meanwhile, with Delhi’s daily Covid count crossed the 1,000 mark after two months, the administration has launched an aggressive testing campaign in metro, railway stations and airports. The Rs 500 fine for not wearing a mask is also back, and more emphasis is being given to push the level of vaccination.

On Thursday, Delhi's daily count dropped marginally to 965 with a positivity of 4.71%. The number of tests shot up to nearly 20,500 - a three times jump from the number of tests carried out three days ago.

Mask wearing is now also mandatory in Punjab as well as in Uttar Pradesh districts like Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar that are close to Delhi.

The silver lining, however, is that the cases are mild so far with 99% of more than 9,500 dedicated Covid-19 beds in hospitals remaining empty. “Covid cases are increasing in Delhi, but hospital admissions are less as a result of which 99% of Covid beds are empty. Seven patients are admitted to LNJP,” said Suresh Kumar, medical director LNJP Hospital.

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