New Omicron sub-variant BA.12 found in Patna can cause 10 times more harm than BA.2

New Delhi, Apr 28: A new variant of the novel coronavirus, BA.12, was found in Bihar's Patna on Thursday. The BA.2.12 variant was first detected in the United States. There were five cases of BA.2.12 detected in Delhi and now one case has been detected in Patna.

According to the state's health department, the new variant of Omicron was found in the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS).

As per the researchers, the new BA.12 variant is ten times more harmful than BA.2, which was discovered during the third wave of COVID in India.

Prof Dr. Namrata Kumari, the HOD of microbiology department of IGIMS, said, "Keeping in view the rising COVID cases, we had started genome sequencing of samples of Omicron variant of corona. There were 13 samples tested and one of them had BA.12 strains. The remaining 12 samples have BA.2 strains."

"We have asked the authority for contact tracing of all the positive samples of Omicron. The BA.12 variant is 10 time more dangerous than BA.2. Though, there is no need to worry. Precaution is required here to protect from it," she said.

Should you worry about BA.12 variant?

Every time a new strain surfaces, we do see a little bump in COVID cases but it mostly affects the vulnerable groups those suffering from an underlying disease.