Third Wave of Corona: Those travelling to Uttar Pradesh from other states and abroad will have to undergo a COVID test as several cases of the Delta variant AY.4.2 strain, which has created havoc in the United Kingdom, has emerged in India. Notably, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to ensure that anyone coming to Uttar Pradesh from other states and abroad is to be tested for Covid-19. This includes those coming, especially, from abroad and states like Kerala and Maharashtra.
Besides, the surveillance committees have been asked to remain alert and focus on house visits once again as Covid-19 cases are rising in other states and neighbouring countries. “The surveillance committees were a useful tool in controlling the spread of the pandemic in the state as members would visit homes, identify possible patients, distribute medicines and pulse oximeters, etc. These were highly active till July or August but now that cases around UP are rising once again, they have been put on high alert and asked to restart their visits to identify anyone who is showing influenza-like illness,” a government spokesperson said.
The committees have also been asked to check and report the spread of vector-borne diseases. The exercise will be stepped up in festival season when there may be a possibility of increasing cases.
As per the data uploaded on GISAID, an open-access genomic database of influenza viruses and the coronavirus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, 17 cases of new coronavirus lineage —AY.4.2 have been detected so far in India. Of the total 17, seven samples of AY.4.2 were found in Andhra Pradesh, four in Kerala, two each in Karnataka and Telangana, and one each in Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra.
What is AY.4.2 Variant of COVID-19?
AY.4.2 is a newly-designated Pango lineage within Delta Variant of Concern, which has three additional mutations, including two in the spike protein: A222V and Y145H.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that more than 26,000 cases of the Delta Covid subvariant AY.4.2, considered up to 15 per cent more transmissible than the original Delta, has been reported from 42 countries. “An increase in AY.4.2 sequence submissions has been observed since July 2021, and as of October 25, over 26,000 AY.4.2 sequences have been uploaded to GISAID from 42 countries, the WHO said in its latest weekly epidemiological update.
The majority (93 per cent) of these sequences were reported from the UK, where a gradual increase in the proportional contribution of AY.4.2 has been observed; accounting for an estimated 5.9 per cent of overall Delta cases reported in the week beginning October 3, the WHO said.
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