Covid third wave starts in India: Six states record 17 cases of new Delta variant

Covid third wave fear starts in India, has reported seventeen cases of AY.4.2 variant of the novel coronavirus, which is spreading rapidly in the United Kingdom, from six states. These samples were collected between May, September 2021.

A total of 19,466 sequences were submitted from India to GISAID for the same time period. Its growth trend from the first detection in each state needs to be monitored as a fraction of currently circulating lineages, said the Health Ministry.

Karnataka reported two sequences collected on 7th and 17th July and submitted by Molecular Solutions, Bengaluru. Seven sequences were collected between 11th August and 9 September from Andhra Pradesh and submitted by CCMB, Hyderabad.

Kerala collected 4 sequences between 16th and 21 July submitted by Kerala State SARC COV-2-Genome Surveillance Programme (GENESCOV2) with IGIB, Delhi. Two sequences were collected from Telangana between 4 September and 11 September and submitted by CDFD, Hyderabad.

One sequence was collected from Maharashtra on 1 September and submitted by IISER, Pune. The earliest sample of AY.4.2 was collected from Jammu and Kashmir on 29 May. AY.4.2 has grown steadily in volume and now accounts for about 9 per cent of UK cases in the last 28 days. It has also been observed in a few European nations like Denmark, Germany and Ireland.

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According to British scientists, it may be up to 15 per cent more transmissible than the original Delta and according to a report by Daily Mail, its prevalence in England doubled in a month from being behind four per cent of cases in September to 8.9 per cent in the two weeks to October 9.

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