New Omicron strain? What you need to know about India’s new COVID wave

New Delhi: Arjun Dang, Chief Executive Officer of Dr Dangs Lab, on Tuesday said that the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in India is being driven by sub-lineages of the Omicron variant.

Dang highlighted that in states such as Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, certain sub-variants categorised as ‘Variants Under Monitoring’—specifically LF7 and NV181—are more transmissible.

"We must understand that the current spreading variants are again a sub-lineage of the Omicron virus. Additionally, in states like Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, we have certain other sub-variants that have been named Variants Under Monitoring, and these are basically of two types, LF7 and NV181. Currently, the cases that we are seeing are more transmissible. They can infect people easily, but again, from the severity perspective, till now, we have not seen any severe cases," Dang said.

Mild symptoms and low hospitalisations

Dang further explained that the symptoms being observed are typical of common cold and flu, with hospital admissions remaining low.

"All of these are actually presenting as common cold and flu, and the usual symptoms that we have in any kind of common cold, even the hospitalisations, have been minimal," he added.

Preparedness and surveillance improved

He assured that the healthcare system is in a better position now to handle the rise in cases due to improved infrastructure and surveillance mechanisms.

"There has been an increase in the number of sample requests that we are receiving. But this time, we are better prepared, more informed, and we have better surveillance tools. With the scientific tests that we have, we are in a good place from the preparedness perspective to face this effectively and minimise any kind of damage that the current wave might cause," he said.

ICMR also confirms mild symptoms

On 26 May, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also noted that while COVID-19 cases are rising in some regions, the variants in circulation are showing symptoms similar to those caused by the Omicron strain, with no major severity reported so far.