Hyderabad: Four cases of new Omicron variants in RR, Medchal districts

HYDERABAD: Three more cases of Covid-19 infection with the BA.5 sub variant and one case of BA.4 sub variant of the Omicron strain have been detected within the GHMC limits. The infections were mild in all patients, and their condition was stable. Two cases of BA.5 and one case of BA.4 sub variant have been reported from Rangareddy district, while one case of BA.5 was reported at Medchal Malkajgiri district.

Officials said a patient from Medchal Malkajgiri was 80-years-old and did not have any symptoms, except for losing his sense of taste. That led to a test for Covid-19, which turned out to be positive.

None of the infected persons had a travel history to places where the two sub variants were prevalent. These could be a case of the existing sub variants getting mutated further, they surmised.

Officials said the presence of new sub variants was not a cause for concern. This might cause a spike in cases only in some pockets of the population. Experts noted that most cases during the third wave driven by the Omicron variant were mild ones. The same could be expected of BA.4 and BA.5, they being sub variants of the Omicron strain.