New 'AY.12' variant of SARS-CoV-2 identified

A new AY.12 variant of the Coronavirus has now been detected. Earlier, scientists thought AY.12 was part of the Delta variant. However, the activation of AY.12 has forced scientists to classify it separately. This has raised concerns among Indian scientists. Laboratories across the country have been told that more attention needs to be paid to AY.12 mutations during genome sequencing of samples infected with the coronavirus. INSACOG, which monitors genome sequencing, has also issued alerts for all laboratories.

According to INSACOG, not much is known about the new AY.12 variant of the Coronavirus.

What is the effect of this mutation?

This will be known in the coming days, but so far 13 mutations have been revealed in the covid Delta variant worldwide, this is one of them and cases of AY.12 are also coming up in India.

A study of the AY.12 mutation is still ongoing, said a senior scientist at INSACOG. Not much is known about it internationally. However, it has been found that more than 33,000 specimens have been confirmed worldwide, which is the highest compared to other delta mutations. At the same time, he said, AY.12 is a sub-genus of Delta, which has been seen in many states so far.
But its numbers need to be scrutinized. What is the difference between the results between Delta and AY.12 is not yet understood. All that can be said now is that they both look alike.

Genome sequencing of 78,865 samples has been done in the country till last 23rd August. Of these, 31,124, or 61.2 percent, were found to be severe variants of the coronavirus. The highest number of 21,192 specimens of Delta variant has been found. This means that the delta variant in India is many times higher than other variants with alpha, beta and gamma, allowing people to be infected more than once. They can become infected after vaccination.