New Covid variant Pirola not yet detected in India, tight vigil on: Insacog member

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

China, has not yet been detected in India. «So far, Pirola has not been detected in the country,» a member of Insacog, the pan-India network of laboratories set up to monitor genomic variations of coronavirus, told ET. «We are keeping a strict vigil.»
Insacog held a review meeting on Friday amidst increasing concern over the BA.2.86 variant, which is informally being termed Pirola. Its members were of the view that sewage testing for Covid-19 should be significantly increased «for timely detection of new variants like Pirola», the person said.

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Anurag Agrawal, former head of Insacog and chair of WHO's Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution, said it is a matter of time before Pirola is detected in the country. «I am sure we will either have BA.2.86 or will get it,» he said.

Agrawal, however, added that there is nothing to worry about. «There is nothing very frightening in its data so far,» he said.
An article published in Yale Medicine Review on August 31 noted that Pirola has «more than 30 mutations to its spike protein compared to XBB.1.5», a variant of Omicron that had been the dominant strain in the US.

In India, so far, XBB sub-variant continues to be the dominant variant, accounting for 90-95% of the Covid-19 cases, said the Insacog member cited earlier, adding that Eris variant has been detected in 2-3% Covid-19 cases.

«So far, no significant increase in cases or 'unusual pattern' has been seen in the country,» the person said.

Experts said India may see periodic increases in cases as immunity declines and