Omicron XBB variant most prevalent COVID-19 sub-lineage in India: INSACOG

INSACOG, the government forum set up under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to study and monitor genome sequencing and virus variation of COVID-19 in India, said that Omicron and its sub-lineages are the dominant variants in India. Omicron variant XBB is the most prevalent, it said in a bulletin released on Monday. 

XBB with 63.2 per cent is the most prevalent and the highest circulating COVID-19 variant in the country. 

Other Omicron variants such as BA.2.75 and BA.2.10 were also circulating, but are not as prevalent as XBB. BA.2.75, it said, was the prevalent sub-lineage circulating especially in Northeast India. However, no severity or increase in hospitalisation has been recorded from the same. 

“In northern part of India, XBB was prevalent, whereas in the eastern part, BA.2.75 was the prevalent sub-lineage. BA.2.10 and other Omicron sub-lineage frequency was lower last week. However, any increase in disease severity or hospitalisation has not been observed over this period,” it said.

Overall infection rate is below 500 per day. “BA.2.75 at 46.5 per cent and XBB and its sub-lineages at 35.8 per cent continue to be the most commonly circulating Omicron sub-lineag,” it said.

Meanwhile, India has made it mandatory for passengers coming and departing from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and Japan to undergo a COVID RT-PCR test. Passengers coming from these countries will have to produce a negative RT-PCR report, as per the Ministry of Health’s mandate. Pre-departure RT-PCR testing has also been introduced for passengers on all international flights from these five countries. 

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