BA.4, BA.5 are quite mild, behaving like other Omicron sub-variants

NEW DELHI: As India has been witnessing the subvariants of Omicron, Dr Tarun Kumar Sahni, Internal medicine and hyperbaric Oxygen therapist at Indraprastha Apollo hospital on Tuesday clarified that the BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages are quite "mild" because they are behaving like other mutants of COVID-19.

"The sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 are behaving the same as other mutants of COVID-19 variants. We have observed that it is quite mild. A few months ago, WHO said that BA.4 and BA.5 are variants of concern. The European countries have also recently called it a variant of concern," Dr Kumar told ANI. He further said the variant of concern means a particular mutant that can quickly convert and become more serious and progressive than the other variants.

The health expert also stressed following the COVID-19 protocols including wearing masks. He said " We all know these viruses will undergo mutation, that's why we are still telling people to wear masks so that the replication factor can be kept very low. The more it replicates, the more mutations will happen and more the possibility that one of the mutants can become more serious."

After Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Hyderabad and Maharashtra have also detected the BA.4 and BA.5 cases. BA.4 and BA.5 are subvariants of the Omicron variant circulating globally. These were reported first from South Africa earlier this year and are now reported from several other countries. These variants have not been associated with disease severity or increased hospitalization.

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