Tamil Nadu reports India's second case of Omicron sub-variant BA.4

As Omicron's subvariant BA.4 is spreading all over the world, the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has recorded its first case of the subvariant of the highly contagious Omicron, as the state's Health Minister Ma Subramanian suggests. This is the second confirmed case of BA.4 in India. On Saturday, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said in a statement that one case of BA.4, a sub-variant of Omicron has been documented in Chengalpattu District near Chennai.

As per the reports of ANI, he further stated that two COVID-19 positive cases are in the family where the case of BA.4 was reported. Subramanian announced that on May 4, two of the family members, which includes a mother and a daughter were diagnosed with COVID. He further said that both were given two doses of the vaccine. Their communication was tracked down and tested.

India confirmed its first case of BA.4 sub-variant of Omicron in Hyderabad

This comes just one day after India confirmed its first case of  BA.4 sub-variant of Omicron in Hyderabad, Telangana on May 20, according to Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG). Following the discovery of the first case of BA.4, contact tracing of people who came into contact with the patient who travelled to Hyderabad from South Africa had begun. The person did not have any symptoms when the sample was taken on May 9th.

Both the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants have been linked to the fifth COVID wave in South Africa, as well as a new wave of infections in the United States and Europe, since January. Virologists suggest that the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants appear to be more infectious than the older BA.2 lineage, which was more infectious than the initial Omicron variant. Many of the mutations in BA.4 and BA.5 are similar to those in the original Omicron version. The Omicron variant of COVID-19 was first found in November of 2021 in South Africa.

India's COVID-19 total rose to 4.31 crores with 2,323 new infections

In the meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry stated that the total case of COVID-19 in India rose to 4.31 crores with 2,323 new infections, while the number of active cases fell to 14,996. The number of deaths rose to 5,24,348 with 25 fatalities. Active cases account for 0.3% of all infections. The nationwide COVID-19 recovery percentage is 98.75%.

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