#India is another country where #SARS_CoV_2 BA.2 is rapidly replacing #Delta & #Omicron BA.1. The pace of sharing sequences by India is very slow, median days from collection to deposition is 69 days according to GISAID. Genome sequencing among the states is not always fair.🧵
In the state of #Telangana#India, #Omicron BA.1 in the most recent dates are exclusively from #Hyderabad. Except for a couple cases, BA.2 positive samples were collected outside of Hyderabad. The last sequence from this state is from Jan 6, 2022.
Similarly, #Omicron BA.2 is the dominant variant in the northeast states, #Assam and #ArunachalPradesh of #India. Although the sequence data from Arunachal Pradesh is very sparse.
#Omicron BA.2 is the dominant variant in #Karnataka and has likely replaced #Delta and Omicron BA.1/BA.1.1.
Even though the sequence data for #Delhi is only available through the end of December 2021, the possibility that the recent cases are caused by BA.2 is extremely high. #Delta and #Omicron BA.1/BA.1.1 variants are on the way out.
Sequence data from #gujrat#India are available almost in real time. The 1.5 times more transmissible BA.2 (than the original #Omicron strain BA.1) is cleanly the dominant variant in the state.
A total of 113,775 #SARS_CoV_2 virus sequences are submitted from #India. It is extremely sad to see only 19 sequences from #Bihar, the third most populated state in India. Worst of all, only 1 sequence is available since September '21. Only God knows what is circulating there?😂
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Since India announced the ‘E484Q & L452R’ #DoubleMutant , I was curious about the emergence of the ‘E484Q and L452R’ mutations. When I analyzed all publicly available #SARSCoV2 sequences, the first ever case was reported in Maharashtra, India in a sample collected on 12/5/2020.
In India, the Double Mutants are primarily found in Lineage B.1; USA- B.1.427 and B.1.429; Sweden-L.3. Outside of India only 46 sequences of double mutant were found, UK-22, USA-12 (mostly California), Sweden-5, Canada -3, 1 in Singapore, Germany, Australia and New Zealand each.
The E484Q mutation was first seen in a sample collected on 03/09/2020 in Midtjylland, Denmark; 03/20/2020 in San Diego, US; 03/22/2020 in Maharashtra, India; 5/20/2020 Wales, UK. The mutation is seen mostly in B.1 lineages including B.1.1.7 and mostly in India, USA and UK.
Risk of a second wave of #SARSCoV2 infections in #Nepal is high due to the recent surge/second wave of #COVID19 cases in #India. Because of open borders and free movement of citizens, it is just a matter of time before we see a significant surge in cases in Nepal.
Currently, India stands at 3.14% active cases, mostly concentrated in a few states. Some of these states in India are hubs for workers from western Nepal. Temporary workers may soon return home in part due to fear of previous lockdown experience or rise in COVID cases etc.
Looking at most recent waves of COVID infections in UK, South Africa and now several countries in Europe, the infections are mostly caused by #variants. It is likely that the recent rise in cases in India are due to variants, particularly 🇬🇧#B117 (UK) or 🇮🇳Indian Variant.