A sublineage of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant called AY.12 has been found in several Indian states and is most likely responsible for the recent increase in Covid cases in Israel, according to experts.
According to INSACOG’s weekly update, the Delta variant continues to infect people around the world, with new cases in Israel approaching historical highs despite around 60% of the population being fully immunised.
INSACOG is a multi-laboratory, pan-India network to monitor genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2 by sequencing samples circulating in India.
Cases Previously Thought to be Delta Reclassified as AY.12
Many cases in India that were previously categorised as Delta have now been reclassified as AY.12.
It was noted in the bulletin that “final numbers will take some time because the AY.12 definition is inconsistent”.
A.Y.12 & Delta Difference
It is not yet known if AY.12 is clinically distinct from Delta or B.1.617.2, according to INSACOG.
G142D in spike protein, a mutation present in the Delta lineage, is not present in the AY.12. The spike protein of this variant does not contain any novel mutations that should be of concern to the community at large. But because it is growing so quickly in Israel, it should be looked at more closely.
AY.12 is the most prevalent strain in Israel at the moment, with 51% of samples showing this variant.
It also appears that based on the number of sequences that Indian research groups have contributed to the GISAID database in the previous week, the prevalence of this variation has climbed to over 20%.
1,504 Samples in India
GISAID data from Outbreak.org, which records novel variations and their prevalence, predicts that 1,504 samples of AY.12 have been uploaded from India since the pandemic began, or 4% of the total variant samples.
On September 7, 2020, India classified its first AY.12 sample.
A total of 70,000 samples have been sequenced for their genomic structure, according to INSACOG, and 50,000 of those samples have been assigned to different lineages of coronavirus. From them, 60% have international variants (Variants of Concern and Variants of Interest) that are tracked globally and connected to outbreaks, vaccination failures, or reinfection.
Seventy percent of the samples in these VoCs are from the Delta variant. However, after the reclassification, it is projected that the number of cases in the Delta plus category, in which AY.12 is included, would grow.
Kerala, which accounts for nearly all of India’s cases, recorded roughly 31,000 cases on Wednesday, despite the overall trend of daily cases in India being decreasing.
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