Last Friday, Insacog held a review meeting to address growing concerns about the BA.2.86 variant, colloquially known as Pirola.

During the meeting, members emphasized the importance of significantly increasing sewage testing for Covid-19 in order to quickly identify new variants like Pirola.

Pirola, a novel coronavirus variant contributing to increased Covid-19 cases in the US, UK, and China, has not yet been identified in India.

A Insacog member said, “So far, Pirola has not been detected in the country,” the pan-India network of laboratories set up to monitor genomic variations of coronavirus. “We are keeping a strict vigil” he said.

Anurag Agrawal, former head of Insacog and chair of WHO's Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution, said it is a matter of time before Pirola is detected in the country. "I am sure we will either have BA.2.86 or will get it," he said.

Agrawal, however, added that there is nothing to worry about. “There is nothing very frightening in its data so far,” he said.

An article published in Yale Medicine Review on August 31 noted that Pirola has “more than 30 mutations to its spike protein compared to XBB.1.5”, a variant of Omicron that had been the dominant strain in the US.

In India, the XBB sub-variant remains the dominant strain, constituting 90-95% of Covid-19 cases, as reported by the earlier cited Insacog member. Additionally, the Eris variant has been identified in 2-3% of Covid-19 cases. “So far, no significant increase in cases or ‘unusual pattern’ has been seen in the country,” the person said.

Experts said India may see periodic increases in cases as immunity declines and more immune-escape mutations develop. However, the Insacog member said there is no need to panic as the hospitalization and number of deaths have not increased in countries seeing a resurgence in Covid-19 cases.