The new KP.2 Covid-19 variant appears to be more transmissible, but is not virulent, said doctors on Monday, amid reports of 91 cases being detected in Maharashtra.
KP.1.1, and KP.2 strains
are part of the new variant dubbed FLiRT, based on the technical names for
their mutations, one of which includes the letters "F" and
"L", and another of which includes the letters "R" and
"T".
Genome sequencing of
March and April revealed 91 cases of KP.2 in Maharashtra -- Pune (51), Thane
(20), Amravati (7), Aurangabad (7), Solapur (2), Ahmednagar (1), Nashik (1),
Latur (1), and Sangli (1).
"There is no reason
to believe that the FLiRT group of variants being reported are more virulent
than the existing variants," Dr Lancelot Pinto, Consultant Pulmonologist
and Epidemiologist, P. D. Hinduja Hospital and MRC, Mahim, told IANS.
"KP.2 appears to be
more transmissible," he added.
The doctor advised
people who are immunocompromised to take precautions such as masking, avoiding
crowded closed spaces, and keeping comorbidities under control.
FLiRT variants belong to
the Omicron lineage, which was highly transmissible and showed great immune
escape.
First identified
globally in January, KP.2 is a descendant of Omicron’s JN.1.
Data from the US Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention shows that KP.2 accounted for about 25 per
cent of new sequenced cases in the country in the last weeks of April. The symptoms
of the new variant typically include a sore throat, runny nose, congestion,
tiredness, fever (with or without chills), headache, muscle pain, and sometimes
loss of taste or smell.
KP.2 has replaced the
previously circulating JN.1 variant and is now driving cases in several
countries, including the US, UK, and Canada.
"While KP.2 may be
the most predominant variant, it is not causing a massive increase in
infections," as seen in the data from other countries, Dr Tushar Tayal,
Lead Consultant, Department of Internal Medicine, C.K. Birla Hospital,
Gurugram, told IANS.
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