Telangana Government remains mum over alerting people on AY.4.2

Hyderabad: The AY.4.2 lineage of Covid-19, a subvariant of the Delta coronavirus strain, which is raging across The United Kingdom, Russia and China, seems to be not a cause for concern to the Telangana government.

Despite the cases of AY.4.2 reportedly found in the State in June, the government maintained silence in disclosing the further details of this Delta subvariant.

Recently, 26,000 cases of AY.4.2 were reported in the world and 17 cases were found in India. Karnataka, the neighbouring state of Telangana, reported seven of the reported 17 cases in the country. In view of the spread of AY.4.2, which is said to be 12.5 per cent more prevalent than the Delta variant, is raising concerns among the people and making them worry about its further spread in the coming days.

It is learnt that Telangana had reported two cases of AY.4.2 in June this year, the results of which the government kept secretly and maintained distance in placing the details in the public domain. Amidst warnings from experts and suspected spread of the subvariant, which devastated India during the second wave, the government's silence in alerting people had seen a lot of criticism. In spite of the two patients having been recovered, experts suggest that it was the responsibility of the government to disclose the details and make people aware of the emergence of AY.4.2 in the state.

Though the officials of Department of Health in the State claimed that the AY.4.2 cases were not found in the State, the opposition is criticising the government for not acknowledging it, amidst the raise of cases in neighbouring states.