There is a steady increase in the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the city as 82% of positive samples sent this year for genome sequencing have Omicron variant, an official told The Hindu .
“There is now a spike in the Omicron variant like it happened with the Delta variant during the second wave. Also, there is an increase in the sub-lineages of Delta too,” the official said.
Of the 675 samples, whose genome sequencing was done from January 1-9, 82% showed Omicron variant of the virus and 14% was Delta and its sub-lineages. “Of this 14%, about 50% are sub-lineages of Delta. These sub-lineages are the ones like Delta plus that was seen earlier,” the official said.
Jugal Kishore, head of the Community Medicine Department at Safdarjung Hospital, said that the Omicron was not a big worry as it was causing a mild infection.
The Delhi government is currently not sending all positive COVID-19 samples for genome sequencing.
