No increase in hospitalisation, disease severity due to BA.2.38: Insacog

Omicron sub-variant BA.2's offspring BA.2.38 has not led to any increase in hospitalisation or disease severity, and a few deaths reported recently are due to comorbidities, Insacog said in its June 20 bulletin released on Sunday.

In the bulletin, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (Insacog) said many BA.2 cases have been reclassified to BA.2.38. BA.2.38 seems to be the prevalent sub-lineage in the latest sequencing batches, it said.

"However, so far this has not led to any increase in hospitalisation or any report of increase in disease severity. A few deaths that have been reported recently, are due to comorbidities. COVID-appropriate behavior is likely to reduce the spread of the infection and hence continues to be recommended, it said.

In its previous bulletin dated June 13, which was also released on Sunday, the Insacog said BA.2 continues to be the dominant lineage in India.

"However, hospitalisation due to the severity of the disease has not been observed that much. INSACOG is closely monitoring the current situation," it said.

In another bulletin of May 30, the Insacog informed that till then, five cases of BA.4 and three cases of BA.5 had been reported in India.

The Insacog reports genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 across the country through sequencing of samples from sentinel sites and international passengers arriving in India.