New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: As the third wave of COVID-19 continues to ebb with India seeing its lowest daily case count in nearly two years on Saturday, a new COVID-19 variant, BA.2.2 is being reported from parts of the world. BA.2.2, a combination of the Omicron variant and Omicron sub-variant has been confirmed in Israel and Thailand this week, in addition to China and Hong Kong previously.
Israel’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday that two travelers tested positive for the new COVID-19 variant – BA.2.2 – which combines the omicron variant and the omicron variant’s subvariant, the BA.2 variant.
Thailand too confirmed the presence of BA.2.2 variant this week. It has also been confirmed in China and Hong Kong.
BA.2.2 COVID-19 variant: What are the symptoms?
According to a statement released by the Israel’s Ministry of Health, the patients in which the new BA.2.2 variant was confirmed, showed mild symptoms. They include fever, headaches and muscle aches. The patients additionally did not require any specialised medical care.
BA.2 and BA2.2 act in a similar manner: Expert
According to experts, the BA.2 and BA2.2 variants appear similar and since BA.2 has been a dominant strain in India during the now ebbing third wave of COVID-19, it shouldn’t be a cause to worry or raise an alarm.
“The characteristics of BA.2 and BA2.2 look similar and since BA.2 has already been the dominant strain in the country, I do not see a reason why India should worry,” said Anurag Agarwal, director of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Indian Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in Delhi, was quoted as saying in Moneycontrol.
In India, the BA.2 sub-lineage was already found in nearly 82 per cent cent of the samples that were subjected to whole genome sequencing in January this year at the peak of the third wave of virus stoked by the spread of Omicron variant. Most of these cases were asymptomatic in nature and were detected through the contact tracing exercise in states and union territories.