According to a report released by the state health department on Saturday, May 28, Maharashtra detected several cases of COVID-19 infection with BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
However, it has come to light that the variants do not yet pose a concern as they are an offshoot of the Omicron variant, which has already spread widely in the country.
This development also came at a time when the coronavirus cases in the state and Mumbai has seen a gradual increase rising in the last few days.
Reports further stated that four persons with BA. 4 variant and three persons with BA. 5 variants were identified in the Whole Genomic Sequencing (WSG) conducted by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in coordination with the B.J. Medical College, Pune. All patients had mild symptoms and were successfully treated at home.
The samples of all seven residents of Pune city were collected between May 4 and 18. Four are men and three are women; four are more than 50 years old, while two are aged 20 and 40 years. One is nine years of age. Two of them had a history of travel to South Africa and Belgium, while three others had travelled to Kerala and Karnataka. Beside the nine-year-old, all have received both doses of the COVID vaccine, and one had taken a precautionary dose as well.
Meanwhile, state surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate said that while the transmission rate of the new subvariants was high, hospitalizations were unlikely to go up.
On Sunday, May 29, Mumbai recorded 375 COVID-19 cases – up from 330 on Saturday, May 28 — with zero deaths.
On the other hand, Maharashtra reported a death and 550 new positive cases, 21 more than the previous day, which raised the overall tally to 78,85,944. whereas on Saturday, the state had recorded 529 cases, but no virus-related death.
Owing to this, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has directed assistant commissioners of the 24 administrative wards in the city to ramp up testing.
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