Chennai, June 22 (BPNS)

The Tamil Nadu State Public Health and Preventive Medicine Department in its data for May –June 22 has said that the presence of BA-5 omicron sub- variant may be the reason for the sudden spike in cases in the state.

While only 4% of sub-variant were identified in May, in June to date BA- 5 variant was identified in 25.2% of the SARS- CoV-2 samples whose whole genome sequencing was conducted.

BA-2.38 is the predominant Omicron subvariant in Tamil Nadu earlier, BA- 5 sub-variant has now gained currency among the samples leading to the sudden increase in number of Covid -19 cases in the state.

Tamil Nadu health secretary, P. Senthilkumar in a statement on Wednesday said that there was an increase in BA- 5 sub-variant, and the basic weapons to counter it remains mask, hand hygiene, physical distancing, and vaccination.

Tamil Nadu health minister Ma Subramanian while speaking to BPNS said,” People must adhere to Covid -19 protocol as envisaged by the state health department and the presence of BA-5 sub-variant of the SARS- CoV 2 virus can be tackled by properly adhering to the Covid protocol. Moreover, everyone should take the vaccination to prevent the spread.”