Omicron BA.4, BA.5 quite mild, behaving like its other sub-variants: Expert allay fears

As India has been witnessing the cases of Omicron subvariants: BA.4 and BA.5, medical experts are calling these sublineages "quite mild" citing that they are behaving like the other mutants of the COVID-19 virus.

Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, Doctor Tarun Kumar Sahni, Internal medicine and hyperbaric Oxygen therapist at Indraprastha Apollo hospital in Delhi said, "The sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 are behaving the same as other mutants of COVID-19 variants. We have observed that it is quite mild. A few months ago, WHO said that BA.4 and BA.5 are variants of concern. The European countries have also recently called it a variant of concern."

Adding further, Dr Sahni said that the variant of concern implies a particular mutant that can rapidly convert and become more serious and progressive than the other variants. He also stressed following the COVID-19 protocols including wearing masks in public. "We all know these viruses will undergo mutation, that’s why we are still telling people to wear masks so that the replication factor can be kept very low. The more it replicates, the more mutations will happen and more the possibility that one of the mutants can become more serious," Dr Sahni told ANI.

In India, BA.4 and BA.5 have been reported from Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, however, no severities were found in the cases. It is pertinent to mention that BA.4 and BA.5 are subvariants of the Omicron variant circulating globally. Notably,  these were reported first from South Africa earlier this year and are now being reported from several other countries. In addition to that, these variants have not been associated with disease severity or increased hospitalisation.

India records 2,338 new COVID-19 cases

As of 31 May, 2,338 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the country with a daily positivity rate of 0.64 per cent, making India's active cases currently stand at 17,883. Notably, according to the latest government data, 2,134 recoveries have been reported in the last 24 hours which increases the total recoveries to 4,26,15,574 in the country and the current recovery rate stands at 98.74 per cent. 3,63,883 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours pushing the total testing number to 85.04 crores.

It is pertinent to mention that under Nationwide Vaccination Drive, 193.45 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far (May 31), according to official data.