There is no alarming surge in new strains of the novel coronavirus despite a slight rise of cases in selected pockets across the country, microbiologist Dr Saumitra Das has told News18.com.
Das, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), is a member of INSACOG – a national consortium of 52 institutions involved in genome sequencing of the coronavirus. INSACOG met on Friday to discuss and assess new subvariants.
XBB variant
In an interview with News18.com over the concerns about detection of Omicron’s XBB variant — the recombinant of BA.2.75 and BJ.1, that caused a rapid spike in the number of Covid cases in Singapore — Das said that “sporadic rise in cases is normal, however, the rise cannot be attributed to new strains.”
Instead, he said, such a rise should be attributed to negligent and inappropriate Covid-19 behaviour.
“People are not wearing masks and attending gatherings without following social distancing norms,” he noted while adding that “though it looks like Covid-19 is entering an endemic stage and maybe the pandemic stage has come to an end but we cannot rule out the possibility of an emergence of fit strain as it’s an RNA virus”.
INSACOG hasn’t found any increase in hospitalisation due to Covid-related illness and the majority of cases fall under moderate to mild illness, he said.
“We don’t see any increase in the hospitalisation rate, so far and the cases appearing fall in the mild or moderate category but not severe,” said Dr Das.
‘Should wear masks in festival season’
There is a huge difference in the Covid scenario this year when compared to last year due to vaccine-driven and naturally obtained immunity, according to the expert.
“Perhaps earlier strain-driven waves induced much stronger immunity in populations across India, thus recent variants are not so effective in causing severe symptoms,” he said.
Das said that due to differences in the immunity profile of Indians, use of different vaccines and other variables, “we don’t see any cause of concern with the present set of circulating strains”.
“I would urge people to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour during this ongoing festival time by wearing masks,” he said.
He said that while he can understand that people are “tired and frustrated” of Covid-19 and “want to live freely, we still cannot say that Covid has finished completely.”
“Meanwhile, INSACOG surveillance will continue and the sequencing of samples will continue to monitor the circulation of all novel strains in India,” he said.
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