Is COVID variant Eris driving a surge in cases in Maharashtra right now? Here's what we know

COVID-19 cases are showing signs of increase in Maharashtra in India. According to data from the state health department, the number of active COVID cases have increased from 70 at the end of July to 115 on August 6. The case count in Maharashtra on Monday was 109.

“We cannot immediately term this as an ‘increase’ in cases. We will have to monitor the situation for a week to reach a conclusion. All respiratory infections show a surge during June-September. Hence, the situation is being monitored. We are seeing a slight rise in Covid only over the last three to four days," a senior state government official told TOI.

COVID variant EG.5.1, code-named Eris, is the new COVID strain leading to a rise in the number of cases in the UK and the US. EG.5.1 is a sub-strain of Omicron XBB.1.9.

According to health experts, COVID variants XBB.1.16 and XBB.2.3 are still dominating in Maharashtra. Meanwhile, Eris has been present in India since May, according to health experts.

COVID variant EG.5.1 has recently triggered a health alert in the UK. It was officially recognised on July 31, after a surge in infections were attributed to this subvariant.

Coming to Eris in India, Dr Rajesh Karyakarte, Maharashtra's coordinator for genome sequencing and a senior scientist with BJ Medical College, told TOI: "EG.5.1 was detected in Maharashtra in May.” Eris has not been able to dominate cases in India so far.

“As two months have passed since its detection and [there has been] no significant surge in Covid in June and July, this subvariant has not seemed to make an impact,” Dr Karyakarte continued.

Dr Karyakarte added, “But it will be prudent to keep a close watch on hospital admissions.”

Read more: COVID: A new variant 'Eris' is spreading in the UK; here's all we know

The EG.5 variant now makes up the largest proportion of new COVID-19 infections in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated.

Further, the latest data from the UK Health Security Agency suggests that Eris represents 14.6% of all cases.

Read more: Eris is now the second most prevalent COVID strain in the UK: Here's what we know about the symptoms, transmission rate