Anona Dutt
People who were infected with the Omicron variant in January are still susceptible to other Omicron variants that are emerging around the world. Specifically BA.4 and BA.5 which led to the fifth wave of cases in South Africa and now BA.2.12.1 which is spreading to Europe apart from South Africa. Apart from this, it is also spreading rapidly in America.
All three variants have been detected in India, but BA.2 – which together with BA.1 caused the January wave in India – still dominates, was introduced to GISAID in the last 30 days It accounts for 32 percent of all genomic sequences in the global database.
If a person has been infected with Omicron once before, can it get infected again?
Dr. Lalit Kant, former Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases said, “It is possible that people who were infected with Omicron virus in the month of January can also re-infect them when BA.4 and Other sub-variants such as ba.5 begin to circulate in the community. We have seen that these variants have become the dominant variant in other countries from BA.2. They infect about 13 percent to 15 percent faster than BA.2, which are many times faster than the wild-type virus.” Similarly, BA.2.12.1, which was first detected in New York, is thought to be about 27 percent faster.
He said, “Not only this, after Omicron infection in January, there was no serious disease in people due to post-vaccination immunity, the reason for this was that the immunity due to vaccination is also better for 5 to 6 months . At the same time, when the immunity starts decreasing then the cases of infection can also increase.
Is it possible for these new variants of Omicron to dominate India?
The first cases of BA.4 and BA.5 were detected in South Africa in January and February and became the main variants by May, indicating a marked increase over the previous BA.2. Similarly, the BA.5 has already become the main variant in Portugal.
Although the proportions of the two variants are lower in other European countries, the European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported, “The reported growth advantage for BA.4 and BA.5 suggests that these variants are in the European Union/EEA”. This is probably the reason why COVID-19 cases have been seen increasing in these places in the coming weeks. ,
The effect is very rapid and these variants can also bypass some immunity acquired from previous Omicron infection or vaccination?
Data from laboratory studies shows that BA.4 and BA.5 are farther apart than their cousins BA.1 and BA.2, which led to a surge in Covid cases in India in the months of January was. This means that vaccines using spikes from the parental virus will be less effective.
The European CDC states “BA.4 and BA.5 are neutralized by taking three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine (AstraZeneca or Pfizer) or with little effect on individuals vaccinated with BA.1 vaccine sera. ” Apart from this, he also told that the rate of infection has increased once again in Portugal. ,
Dr Kant explained, “If we follow the example of other countries and predict anything about COVID-19 then it will be very difficult. The possibilities are such that the cases of COVID infection will increase in the coming time, but even after increasing, the chances of hospitalization and deaths in these cases will be less. ,