New Delhi: The Delta variant of Corona has caused havoc all over the world. Now the AY.12 strain (Delta New Sublineage) associated with the family of Delta has also been found in many states of India. It is also believed to be responsible for the sudden increase in corona cases in Israel recently. According to the weekly update of INSACOG, the delta variant is still infecting people around the world. Despite the vaccination of 60 percent of the population in Israel, the number of new infected has increased to a record. INSACOG is a pan-India network of various labs tracking the genome study of COVID-19.
It is being said that the cases which were earlier believed to be linked to the delta variant in India can now be classified as AY.12. INSACOG has said in its bulletin that full cases of AY.12 strain will take time to come out as the definition is not definite yet.
Delta variant and AY.12
It is not yet clear whether the AY.12 is clinically different from the delta variant. INSACOG has said this thing. The G142D spike protein present in the delta variant is not in the AY.12 strain. No mutations have been found in the spike protein of this variant resembling the novel coronavirus family, which is a matter of danger to the people at large. But the rapidly increasing cases in Israel have forced me to think about it. AY.12 is currently the most dominant strain in Israel. This variant is being found in about 51 percent of the samples.
1504 samples in India
According to the data received from Outbreak.org, so far 1504 samples of this strain have been found in India. AY.12 sample was registered for the first time in India on 7th September 2020.
