New Delhi: Amid ongoing concern over Omicron, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG) has said that this new variant has high "immune escape" potential.
"There is a clear experimental and clinical data supporting very high immune escape potential of Omicron, which appears to be the major component of its growth advantage over Delta," the INSACOG said in its latest weekly bulletin.
It said that while Delta continues to be the most prevalent VOC globally, "the Omicron variant has completely displaced it in southern Africa and is on track to become the dominant variant in the UK and elsewhere."
It further said, "There appears to be significantly reduced ability of vaccines of prior infection to protect against symptomatic infection by the Omicron variant."
The INSACOG said that the initial estimate of the severity of illness has, however, been lower than seen in previous outbreaks.
"Whether these initial observations are generalizable to the older non-immune subjects is not clear and the threat level is still considered high," it said.
The INSACOG said that appropriate public health measures and investigations are being conducted for surveillance of Omicron in India.
To date, as many as 781 Omicron cases have been found in India from across 21 States and UTs.
