The WHO (World Health Organisation) has declared EG.5 or Eris a Variant of Interest (VOI).
Mandaviya said the government continues to aggressively pursue genomic surveillance to detect Covid-19 clusters and new variants, if any, even though the cases of the viral infection have reduced.
“We are constantly taking samples and testing them. Till now, 243 new sub variants have been found. None of them pose any serious threat,” the union health minister said.
EG.5 is a descendent lineage of XBB.1.9.2. According to the WHO, EG.5 as of August 7, a total of 7354 sequences of Omicron EG.5 have been submitted to GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data) from 51 countries.
Based on the available evidence, the UN health body said, public health risk posed by EG.5 is evaluated as low at the global level, aligning with the risk associated with XBB.1.16 and the other currently circulating VOIs. “While EG.5 has shown increased prevalence, growth advantage, and immune escape properties, there have been no reported changes in disease severity to date,” the WHO said in its statement.
Dr N K Arora, chairman of the covid-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) told TOI EG.5 was detected in India in May-June.
“There is no significant change in the incidence rate of Covid-19 or hospitalisations on account of this sub-variant. There is no likelihood either, because it is a sub-variant of the Omicron XBB variant that has been in circulation for months and most people are already exposed to it,” Dr Arora said.
Omicron, which was first detected in 2021, has been assigned over 1,000 sub-lineages since its detection including XBB.1.16, XBB.1.5 and EG.5. Small spikes in cases can be there like in case of seasonal influenza virus but the disease is unlikely to cause any increase in hospitalisation as witnessed during the peak of the pandemic, doctors say.
In May this year, while announcing that Covid-19 was no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), WHO had stated that the viral illness was now an established and ongoing health issue instead.
The WHO declared Covid-19 a PHEIC, the highest level of alarm under international law – on January 30, 2020, days after China reported an outbreak of the infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV2, a novel coronavirus.