COVID-19: Delta subvariant AY.4.2 detected in S’pore — 10-15% more infectious than its parent, Delta

Singapore — The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Tuesday (Oct 26) that an imported case has been confirmed to be infected with the AY.4.2 Delta subvariant.

The AY.4.2 subvariant was reported to be spreading rapidly in the United Kingdom this month and is said to be 10-15 per cent more infectious than its parent, the Delta variant.

Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director of the Wellcome-Sanger Institute’s Covid-19 Genomics Initiative, said in a tweet on Oct 19 that the subvariant had “grown all over the place” since July.

However, it was not seen to be displacing other Delta (variants) and, given that it hadn’t spread throughout the world, likely just had some “epidemiological luck,” added Dr Barrett.

Experts have urged authorities to keep an eye on the subvariant.

MOH reported 3,432 new cases of Covid-19 infection in Singapore, comprising 3,171 community cases, 252 dormitory resident cases and nine imported cases.

“Amongst the community cases today are 545 seniors who are aged 60 and above. The ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before is 1.13,” said MOH.

In a separate statement, MOH confirmed one imported case of the AY.4.2 Delta subvariant.

There has been no evidence of the subvariant spreading to the community, reported Straits Times.

In its update, MOH reported 15 more cases, aged between 62 and 98 years, have passed away from Covid-19 complications. All of them had various underlying medical conditions.

Meanwhile, 294 cases require oxygen supplementation in the general ward; 75 are unstable and under close monitoring in the intensive care unit (ICU) to prevent further deterioration, while 61 are critically ill and intubated in the ICU.

MOH noted that the current overall ICU utilization rate is 72.8 per cent.

There are 20,202 patients in home recovery, 4,581 in community care facilities and 942 in Covid-19 treatment facilities. /TISG

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