Scientists in the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) and the Department of Biotechnology stated that the prevalence of the BA.4 sub-lineage is increasing but at a slower pace than BA.5 variant. The experts added that the BA.5 sub-lineage is the driving force behind the surge in COVID cases across the U.S and Europe. In India, the variant has been detected in 10% of patients with mild symptoms, even though it has been in circulation for the last two months.

The scientists stated that the most dominant sub-variant was BA.2 and its sub-lineage BA.2.38, accounting for 85% of the cases. Dr. N.K Arora, Chairman, NTAGI, stated that people do not have to worry about COVID infections because none of the omicron variants has led to increased hospitalization or death.

According to the Health Ministry, around 17,790 patients have recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours. India has conducted more than 869 million COVID tests including 3.92 lacs in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya stated that a total of 2 billion vaccine doses have been administered across the country. Dr. Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology stated that 20,000 new cases in a day are very insignificant for a country like India, but he still appealed to people to continue following COVID-19 appropriate behavior, wear masks and complete their vaccination doses.

(Source: https://www.livemint.com/science/health/omicron-ba-5-is-10-of-cases-but-mild-says-ntagi-as-jabs-cross-2-bn-11658083435201.html)