Covid-19 fourth wave scare: Maharashtra reports over 2000 cases; including new BA.2.75, contagious BA.5 variants

Mumbai: Maharashtra has reported 2382 fresh Covid-19 cases, 2853 recoveries, and 8 deaths in the last 24 hours. 4 patients of BA.4 variant and 31 patients of BA.5 detected, along with 8 patients of BA.2.75 variant in the state, all from Pune. The active cases now stand at 15,521. The new subvariants of Omicron has caused worry among health expert as cases of Covid-19 continue to grow globally.  The World Health Organization (WHO) weekly epidemiological update on Covid-19, released July 6, said that globally, the number of new weekly cases increased for the fourth consecutive week after a declining trend since the last peak in March 2022.

Is BA.2.75 Omicron subvariant dangerous: What WHO says

According to WHO’s Swaminathan, there are still limited sequences available of the sub-variant to analyse, but this sub-variant seems to have a few mutations on the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein. “So obviously, that's a key part of the virus that attaches itself to the human receptor. So we have to watch that. It's still too early to know if this sub-variant has properties of additional immune evasion or indeed of being more clinically severe. We don't know that,” she added. “WHO is tracking it and the WHO Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) is constantly looking at the data from around the world,” Swaminathan further added.

BA.5 Omicron subvariant is 'hypercontagious': Report

The BA.5 Omicron subvariant, now the dominant coronavirus strain in the US, is four times more resistant to Covid-19 vaccines, according to a new study published in Nature. The study found the variant is four times more resistant to messenger RNA vaccines than earlier strains of Omicron, which include Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, Xinhua news agency reported. The strain is "hypercontagious" and is contributing to increases in hospitalisations and ICU admissions, said the Mayo Clinic in a report on Thursday.

The BA.5 strain represented 65 per cent of Covid-19 cases in the US in the week ending July 9, according to the latest data from the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

Unvaccinated people have about a five times higher chance of contracting the virus than those who are vaccinated and boosted, while chances of hospitalisation are 7.5 times higher, and chances of death are 14 to 15 times higher, said Gregory Poland, Head of the Mayo Clinic`s Vaccine Research Group.

India's Covid-19 tally

India's Covid-19 case tally rose by 20,044 in a day to reach 4,37,30,071 while active cases increased to 1,40,760, according to Health Ministry data updated on Saturday. The death toll has climbed to 5,25,660 with 56 more fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. Active cases increased by 1,687 in a day and now comprise 0.32 per cent of the total infections while the national recovery rate is 98.48 per cent, the ministry said. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.80 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was 4.40 per cent.