New AY.4 mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 most dominant in Karnataka

A subvariant named the AY.4 of the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus has been found to be the most dominant variant in Karnataka.

Researchers noted the variant in the samples from the State whose genes were sequenced in June and July.

As per reports, the AY.4 mutation was found in 41.1 per cent of the samples sequenced followed by the baseline Delta variant (40.2 per cent) and AY.12 variant (13.8 per cent).

Geneticists have found out that the AY.4 is mostly found in the UK while the AY.12 variant is from Israel.

The sequencing was conducted at laboratories of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG).

It was also reported that rising cases of COVID-19 in the US and Israel also has the AY.4 variant as the dominant variant.