Prayagraj: A health worker collects swab sample of a passenger for COVID-19 test amid rise in coronavirus cases
Sources said on Thursday that most of the samples taken from Delhi in the first fortnight of April have detected omicron sublineage ba.2.12 and this could be behind the recent spurt in COVID-19 cases in the city. However, an Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) source claimed that the Omicron variant derivative BA.2.12.1 has also been found in some samples in Delhi, which is said to be a recent case. contributing to the growth. We.
But officials have not confirmed that it was actually found in some samples in Delhi. An official source said, “The new subtypes BA.2.12 (52 per cent samples) and BA.2.10 (11 per cent samples) are showing high transmission and were found in more than 60 per cent of the total samples sequenced from Delhi recently. went. .”
“It appears that the BA.2.12 variant has a growth advantage of about 30% to 90% per week compared to BA.2 (Omicron),” the source said.
The genome of more than 300 samples has been sequenced in Delhi in the first fortnight. More or less the same sub-types have been found in the samples sequenced in neighboring districts in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, the official said.
Delhi recorded 1,009 fresh Covid cases on Wednesday, which is 60 per cent more than the day before.
Elaborating on the boom in Delhi, a senior scientist said that the reproduction number of Omicron is 10, which has the highest permeability level, so its derivatives will also have the same transmittance and will spread in the absence of hand hygiene, social distancing and masks. .
The top five states in terms of new cases reported are: Delhi (1009), Haryana (3103), Uttar Pradesh (1684), Maharashtra (1625), and Mizoram (103), officials said.
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