The subvariant has been detected in a study report of 90 samples
A new subvariant of Omicron, BA-2.75, has been seen in Delhi, an official told news agency ANI on Wednesday. The subvariant has been detected in a study report of 90 samples sent for genome sequencing.
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In a statement to the news agency, Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director of LNJP Hospital said, "Omicron's subvariant BA-2.75 has been found in the report. It has a higher transmission rate. This has emerged in the study report of 90 samples sent for genome sequencing. This new sub-variant also attacks people already having antibodies and also those who have taken the COVID vaccines in their body."
What do we know about the new variant?
The BA-2.75 variant also known as Centaurus has been in discussion for a few weeks now. It has been named after a constellation, by a Twitter user. The name Centaurus was picked up by social media users immediately the user tweeted about it. There has been no official naming of this virus.
So far, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified it as a variant of interest. This hints that it is not as serious as the Delta or parental Omicron variant, which are under the variant of concern category of the WHO. This also means that the global health agency is currently monitoring it, but there is no evidence yet.
How common is the incidence of COVID infection through BA-2.75?
The number of COVID cases due to BA-2.75 is relatively low worldwide. BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants are currently the dominant strains of the virus.
The first case of BA-2.75 was first detected in India in May.
It is also called 'scariant'
As per a report by The Conversation, due to the reason that BA 2.75 is becoming more common in India, it has been nicknamed as scariant.
"BA.2.75 is a scariant. It is not spreading anywhere besides a couple of provinces in India without BA.5 to compete with. There will be other new variants to be concerned about but it doesn't look like this is one of them," physician-scientist Eric Topol had tweeted in July, citing a COVID data from India.
It has a higher transmission rate
Several research studies have backed Dr Suresh Kumar's statement on the transmission date of BA 2.75. As per a study titled "Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.75" published in bioRxiv preprint server, BA.2.75 has a favorable growth rate among human population than other sub variants of Omicron. This draws attention to the fact that a virus which can grow among humans under favorable conditions can pose a greater risk to health.
The study also found that BA 2.75 has a higher resistance to the immunity induced by BA.5 subvariant infection which is currently the dominant COVID strain in many countries. This higher resistance throws light on the fact that BA 2.75 can soon take over the prevalent strains.
What are the typical traits of BA 2.75?
As per Eric Topol, "BA 2.75 subvariant is not more immune evasive than BA.5, it has modest resistance to bebtelovimab, has higher receptor binding affinity (w/ 2 novel mutations) than other Omicron subvariants." However, contrary to what other studies have found Eric Topol says, it is unclear if it can compete with BA.5 globally.
Meanwhile, in the US BA.5 accounts for almost 87% of COVID cases, there is no sign of pickup of BA 2.75.
Is it a big threat?
Health experts have mixed opinions on this. While some see it as a potential threat due to its immuno evasive property, some others consider it not dangerous and say the concern around it being a dangerous subvariant is a hype.
"I disagree that BA.2.75 or Centaurus is of concern. In spite of media & Twitter hype," Tulio de Oliveira, Director at Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) in South Africa, had said in a tweet and laid the facts that there have been a very low increase of cases and deaths in India because of the BA 2.75.
"BA.2.75 is not increasing in prevalence anywhere. There is also no data suggesting change in neutralisation or pathogenicity. Don't Believe the Hype!" he had added.
However, WHO's Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan sees its immunity escaping trait a major threat. Emphasizing on the fact that the virus has a clear growth advantage she says that "it is too early to know that this sub-variant has properties of being more clinically severe".
The bottom line
Threat or not, it is too late to drop the guards against COVID variants. Safety protocols should be followed no matter what. Proper hygiene habits, wearing masks, avoiding going to crowded places and self isolating on time can help stop the spread of the infection.
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