No confirmation on new Covid variants: Official

By NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Authorities on Monday denied the discovery of new Omicron variants in Bengaluru, which was reported in a section of media on Saturday.

The Commissioner of the Department of Health and Family Welfare Services (H&FWS), D Randeep, said he was not aware of cases of the new Omicron strain being discovered in the city. He added that the Indian SARS-Cov-2 Genomics Consor tium (INSACOG) and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) had not registered infections from the new variants in the city.

On Saturday, C.N. Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, Bengaluru had told a news agency that Covid variants BA.2.10 and BA.2.12 had indeed been detected in Bengaluru.

The H&FWS commissioner insisted that the news of the new strains had not been confirmed by top institutions. “Some media are reporting the emergence of new Covid-19 mutants, BA 2.10 and BA 2.12 in Bengaluru. This infor mation is neither confirmed nor officially reported by INSACOG, as yet. TAC also has intimated the same,” he said.

Randeep said the low Covid infection numbers in Bengaluru made the claim of new variants untenable. “Covid hospitalisations have not seen any increase and Covid deaths have been nil over the past few days. The State is continuing with genomic surveillance in Bengaluru city to identify any new sub lineages early,” he added.