As much as 80-90% of blood and throat swab samples collected from covid-19 patients in Delhi have been found to contain Omicron sub-variants, according to researchers at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS).
The researchers said they found eight sub-lineages of Omicron in the samples. However, experts are studying which sub-lineage and recombinant of Omicron has public health implications in terms of the severity of cases.
Omicron is now the predominant strain of covid-19 globally and the most transmissible variant till date. This variant has four sub-types, BA.1, BA.2, BA.3 and BA.4.
Of these BA.1 and BA.2 are the pre-dominant strains in India. The researchers cited above found that one particular sub-lineage, BA.2.12, was present in 80% of the samples they studied. “As of now, we have noted that Omicron is the pre-dominant strain circulating across the city.